Danganronpa: Another Sister Edition
by Monokub
Summary: Takes place six month after the events of Genderbender Edition. The Future Foundation is in chaos, Towa City is in Peril. The only hope for it is a lone Naegi Makoto who's gone missing within the confines of this city. But how will Komaru survive such a desolate place against the evil children, the murderous monokumas, and the return of the Ultimate Despair herself: Junko Enoshima
1. The Return of Despair

**_A/N: Well I'm surprisingly getting to this story far sooner than I thought XP Ahahah...hahaaha...waaaaaahh i got a serious probleeeeeem X*! *Sigh* Anyway, it's time to begin! The grand sequel to my grand first story. I have no idea how much longer this is going to take guys- for one thing, I'll be going step by step from the plot of the game, including locations and whatnot. 2, I will be adding a bunch of characters that SHOULD'VE FREAKING BEEN INCLUDED IN THE GAME TO BEGIN WITH! Seriously when I looked up a bunch of info about the game when it was being released, I found someone doing shot-by-shot images of the characters as if they were actually part of the game- the fact they weren't irritated me but I was more than amazed at how detailed and realistic those images were. So with that said, I'll be adding to the story as seen fit._**

 ** _I would also like to note at the time, if some parts don't make sense chronologically-wise, I've yet to see DGR3 Past and Future Arcs- I'm saving that for AFTER SDGR2...sooo yeah I don't see myself seeing that for another few years XP...*sniffle*...I need a hug X..._**

 ** _Huff, well anyway, thanks to all you supporters who made the first one possible. Here's hoping your continued support grows this fanfic into one of the world's greatest spin offs for this series!_**

 ** _I would also like to warn people in advance: No, it's nothing size length, I'm going to be doing my best to make these all just as lengthy as the danganronpa games ^^ But I will state something else: You're going to be experiencing a lout of sound effects like "bang bang bang" or "boom" or whatever as opposed to my other fanfic. And why wouldn't you? It's a third person shooter after all. But I would like to note at this time I'm not the best when it comes to sound effects, or more importantly, knowing what certain sound effects are supposed to sound like like metal clashing on metal or the sound of something specific being pounded on. If anyone knows a site or something that could help with this, I'd deeply appreciate it if they could link it to me or send me a list of any and all possible sound effects and what they're used for in context of events/actions._**

 ** _And with that said, ENJOY!_**

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 **Entry #1:**

 **Dear Diary, who I am referring to as Mr. D.**

 **Dear Mr. D,**

 **Today, I met a new friend! They seem really friendly and nice, so I can tell we're going to be the bestest of friends around! I just know they're going to be so excited and nice when I introduce them to my other friends. They seem really dirty though, so I think I'll get them a bath first, can't be introducing new friends to people who look as dirty as them. But afterwards, when I show them my other friends, we're all going to be the best of friends around in the entire world!**

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...

 _According to what I've heard, the world is round...but is that really true? Earth might have the shape of... rock candy, like that spicy lump of sugar your grandma would rap in a tissue! But...I don't really know for sure. It's not like I've actually seen the shape of the earth. In the same way, I've never actually seen most things what people consider common knowledge. Common Knowledge is what we take for granted. We base our lives around uncertain things, not that it matters to me. I mean, my world isn't even big enough to worry about stuff like the shape of the Earth or common knowledge._

 ***beep-beep-beep***

 ***beep-beep-beep***

 ***beep-beep-beep***

 ***click***

The lone figure sluggishly raised their hand over to the alarm clock that awoke her from slumber. Her room was that of just about what one could expect from any simple teenager's room, and yet was one of the farthest things one could expect too. Most bedrooms would feel like a sanctuary to the average teenage mind, a place where you could go to seclude yourself and be a peace, have the world to yourself for as long as you existed within it's walls. But the room before them was the farthest thing from any sense of sanctuary, or peace for that matter.

It was a prison. A cold, desolate prison like the remainder of their apartment.

 _In fact, it's pretty small, so small that it's actually a little funny._

 _This, is my world. This two-bedroom apartment which I live in, is my world. In fact, my life doesn't extend beyond these walls. But it's not like I'm a shut in or anything. I am actually...imprisoned inside this room._

 _My name, is Komaru Naegi. I'm a completely normal High School girl who lives an abnormal daily life, unlike my sister._ Komaru glanced over to one of the very few things that were brought along with her, aside from her clothes. It was a picture of her and her sister, both dressed up and ready for school right before they became separated. It was one of the last happiest moments of Komaru's life, seeing the smile plastered on both their faces. She was just about to start her first year of High School, and her sister was going to enter a prestigious school of Hopes Peak Academy, where success there meant success for life.

Being dressed up for the day, showered and bathed within the bathroom's warm waters, she made her way towards the entrance of the apartment as she stretched her arms out, ready for her daily workout for the morning.

"Alright!" She cheered to herself with certainty before shooting for the doorway to freedom in a mad dash. Like every day, it was locked. It was locked, bolted shut, and no matter how hard she pounded on it, how often she rattled the handle, or screamed for her freedom, it continued to seclude her from the outside world. "Let! Me! Out!" She shouted in fury, banging on the door endlessly. "Let me out of here, hey-!"

 _Ever since my imprisoned life began, this pointless defiance became my routine. But it was only at the beginning that I seriously yelling and crying._

And just like every day, her pleas and anger would fall only on deaf ears. There was no guarantee anything she was even saying was being heard from on the other side, nobody to respond to her in the slightest. This was how just about every day played out for her from beginning to end; Wake up, take a shower, get dressed, bang against the door and demand her freedom for a few minutes, then eventually give up and just wait for tomorrow to do the same thing all over again. This was her daily routine, which always ended with a grumble, a humph, and the occasional kick to the door in frustration. All of which would end the same with her working up a sweat, and collapsing on the couch where she would relax for the rest of the time.

 _It's been a year and a half since my imprisoned life began. Can you believe it?! A year and a half! So long that I've become completely used to this life! It's frightening how well humans can adapt. I've learned that firsthand from through this imprisonment._ Following the routine as always, she reached over to the stack of magazines she's had as she began reading some of the things of the ever-so-famous fashion model, struggling to keep her sleepy eyes awake as she did. _It's not like I've completely given up of course. If I had, I wouldn't do things like change my uniform every morning. It's just... I don't want to get my hopes up. It's through this imprisonment that I've learned too much about the horrifying despair that always follows hope._

 ***ding-dong***

"Hm?" The all-too-familiar sound of the doorbell ringing was the only small dot of communication to the outside world. It was practically the only thing that told her that things were still happening at all in the outside world.

 ***ding-dong***

"Geeze, it's finally breakfast?" Komaru yelled in a gruff. "It's about time, I'm starved in here!"

 _But anyway, about this whole imprisonment...Unfortunately, even I, the victim, have no clue whatsoever._ Like everyday, Komaru made her way to the dropbox located right next to her doorway. On one of the only bright side of things, the meals provided by her captors were pretty good in serving just about everything they needed for every meal course. Just like today's breakfast, with a nice warm meal of hot toast, yellow tea, and some scrambled eggs with some bacon. It was even decorated slightly with a few pieces of vegetables off to the side like a restaurant, also providing some tablets of butter and jelly for the toast. As far as drinks went, that was solely left to the bottles of water that filled her fridge. In fact, it was the only thing that filled her fridge, making her almost completely dependent on the meals given to her every day. After being taken in by strange people in this strange place...

"I wanted Japanese style this morning..." Komaru mumbled to herself as she fetched the water. _I've learned that these meals were the only communication I had with the outside. I haven't seen the culprits face, even heard their voice. I still don't even know why I'm imprisoned here. Regardless of how abnormal this situation is, this is my world and my daily life now, so it can't be helped. See? Sucks right? My story ended before it even began. It's not like I still have hope that something...sudden will happen after all this ti-_

 ***bumbum***

"Huh?" Different. That was the only thing that ever caught Komaru's attention these days was if something different happened outside of her "normal lifestyle" now. Not even before she could start her breakfast, her attention was caught by the strange thumping sound coming from the door. Surely it couldn't mean much though, right? Maybe her captors just bumped into it again like before, or maybe her mind was just playing tricks on her again, or-

 ***rattle-rattle-thump***

"Huh? Wha...What happened?" Komaru was at a complete loss for words now. It's been a year and a half since her imprisonment. At first she was sure her mind was playing tricks on her given the numerous times she thought she was being released. Either that or it was the captor's cruel way of pulling pranks on her, making her think for the first few weeks she was eventually going to be lead out. And she wouldn't put it past her if they were just doing the same thing again after all this ti-

 ***rattle-rattle-rattle***

There it was again. This was getting out of hand now, even for her captors amusement. Not once, in the last year, had she ever heard this much noise emanating from the door. It was hopeless for her to think of, even more hopeless to believe in, but there was a chance. There was a chance these strange sounds were the one thing she had never seen coming in her life. "Huh! Could it be...has someone come to rescue me?!" Her heart raced as she shot for the door as quick as her feet would carry her. it was too good to be true, part of her thought she was still dreaming but she didn't care anymore! Whether in reality or in her dreams, she couldn't take it anymore!

"Please! I'm begging you," Komaru cried as she pounded on the door in return, "please save me! Eughuhh...eghugh..." she cried. "I don't want to live this life anymore..." She pleaded. She could remember her life easily because it was always the same thing over and over again. Get up, demand to have her freedom, stare out the barred windows to the freedom she was missing, relax while waiting throughout the day for each of her meals, and go to bed by the end of it all. Then she would wake up to repeat the process all over again, as if she was a robot designed to do the same thing without end. This wasn't any way for her to live, it wasn't a way for anyone to live! She choked on her tears once again before pounding on the door one last time. "PLEASE OPEN THE DOOOOOR-!"

 ***Skreesh***

That was her response. The sound of twisted metal piercing through the door as her eyes opened once more. There, she didn't see her savior, she didn't see the captors that brought her to this twisted prison years ago. Instead, all she was met with were three metallic claws that nearly impaled her through the eyes, three razor sharp blades that were mere inches away from her skull. May things registered to her simultaneously at that moment, but the one that stood out the most was the truth.

This wasn't a savior.

Whoever it was, whatever it was, they didn't care for her safety. They knew she was right on the other side, they expected her to be. And because of it, they had no quarrel with trying to suddenly impale her on three spiked claws, which began to creak and groan as they suddenly descended through the door, growing a large gash as they did. As if that was needed to tell her this wasn't her savior, the strange shape she saw moving through the other side of the door confirmed that her savior wasn't even human. This dark thing, whatever it was, suddenly gazed upon her with a sharp, glowing, red eye, one she was sure was looking into her very soul for that matter. This wasn't her savior, and this wasn't some rescue operation.

This was an execution.

She squeaked to herself in fear as she backed away a few feet from the door, falling to her butt as she crept back. Little by little, she could hear the door groaning again as the strange assailant began pulling on the metallic door, creaking little by little as he pulled it. Maybe it wasn't as bad as Komaru thought? Maybe whatever this monster was, it couldn't get in here! But that was only wishful thinking for the dying, and she knew it. She could only watch on in fear as the monster slowly but eventually pulled apart the very door itself, tossing it aside into the darkness where her attacker couldn't be seen, where it took no time in correcting the problem as it finally walked through the doorway, revealing itself for the monster it was.

Komaru didn't know what part was more shocking to her- how large the strange creature was, or what it looked like. Before her stood a strange-looking teddybear of black and white, as if symbolizing the balance of Yin and Yang itself. The beast was also around Komaru's own height, not that she stood near it to confirm nor did she want to. She could just tell the hulking monstrosity which took up nearly the whole doorway was big, big enough to rip her to shred with it's mere claws. All she could do was sit there, paralyzed with fear as she gazed at it's revealing head, seeing the face of the horrifying creature for what it was.

In all honesty, the face of the beast was what really threw Komaru off. It looked like something of a simple kid's toy, it's face covered in white and black like the rest of it's body, yet the face itself was distinguishable. The right half of it's white face seemed comforting, playful, with what even looked like a simple button-shaped eye above it's cute little snout. But at the same time, it was complimented, or perhaps ruined, but it's opposing side. The entire left half of the beast was terrifying, with no part of it looking the least bit as welcoming like the rest of it. It's teethed grin was wide and ferocious, showing no sign of comfort or care. And it's eye, it's bright red sheering eye which gave her all the details it needed to tell her this thing was not some savior in wolf's clothing. It was a monster sent to kill her, nothing more, nothing less.

"A-AH-AHHHHH!" Komaru screamed as she tried crawling away back into the kitchen. As she did, the beast scanned it with it's infrared scanner, scanning and displaying a heated-outline of the young girl before her. It was definitely Komaru Naegi, the person he was ordered to dismantle just as he was programed to. And it wasn't about to disobey it's orders, especially against an opponent with no means to protect itself.

"Gyahahaha!" Komaru paid no attention as she quickly crawled under the table, hearing the mechanical beast apparently laughing by the sound of it. Only now did she take the moment to look back once she was hidden far enough under the table where the beast couldn't reach her, or where she would at least be able to escape soon enough depending on what angle it approached her from. But strangely enough, it was gone. There wasn't a single sight of the bear before her, and no indication it was there other than the doorway it destroyed. For a brief millisecond of the Universe, she almost wished she just imagined the killer bear, hoping it was nothing but some strange play on her mind, or at the very least left her alone after it entered.

But like everything with hopeful thinking, it was just as quickly shattered.

 ***skreesh***

 ***skreesh***

"Ahh!" Komaru screamed in terror again as two metallic claws pierced through the table she was under. The beast was on top of her, trying to impale her when her guard was at it's lowest and nearly succeeded in doing so. Both sets of claws missed by mere inches, the nearest one almost nicking her shoulder sleeve at the most.

Wasting no time for it to continue it's assault, she quickly crawled out of her hiding space as she dashed towards the door. Taking a second to look back, she saw the beast again, wiggling it's paws briefly as it tried pulling it's claws out. Fortunately for what few seconds it bought her, the creature appeared to have it's claws stuck in the table, giving her the chance of a few sweet seconds of reprieve as she hastily exited through the door, hearing the familiar clawing sounds of the metal pulling out of the wooden table once more.

What was supposed to be the sight of sweet, beautiful, freedom was nothing more than a hellish nightmare that greeted her upon her escape. All throughout the hallways of where she appeared to be, she saw nothing but chaos in the form of fire. The hallways were burning, fires were bursting out of several opened rooms that she saw between the numerous routes she could take. She almost disturbed herself just imagining what reasons those doors had for being open before remembering the creature chasing after her. She didn't want to imagine the horrific details of what possibly happened to the other people in the halls, what WOULD happen if the creature had eventually caught her of all people. All she was concerned with was running. Running and never looking back as she ran down the hall to her right, just as the creature attempted to jump through the door a second later.

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening..." Komaru mumbled to herself as tears of fear continued to race down her eyes. She didn't want this, she never wanted this! She would happily continue spending the rest of her life behind those doors in despair than being rescued before the situation before her. People were dying, people were indefinitely dead! What was going on here, what was doing this to her, and why NOW of all times? She just wanted to go home, she wanted to see her family again! It was bad enough she was imprisoned by captors that came to her home out of nowhere years ago, now in order for her to achieve freedom she had to be chased by some demented looking bear trying to kill her?! It was a nightmare, in every sense of the form.

But perhaps that Nightmare finally have her a sparkle of hope as she reached the intersection of the hallway. She couldn't continue straight on ahead due to the fire blocking her path, forcing her to go left again followed by another left at the end of that hallway. But after making her way through it once more, she saw the only hope to her salvation.

The Elevator.

She wasted no time bolting for the door, pressing the buttons frantically as she summoned the mechanical device. This had to be it, it had to. This was the final key to not only obtaining the freedom stolen from her, but to escape the menacing bear that was trying to kill her! The tears continued pouring as she looked back briefly. Any second now that bear was going to be here, at the end of the hallway once more like she was. She needed to escape it, she just had to! Nobody wanted to be the victim of a horror scenario like this where they ended up dead because some elevator was too lazy and stupid to save her life too slowly-! And then there it was. The bear. It was almost sinister the way it greeted her with the right half of it's body, making the slow reveal of it's left half all the more terrifying as it showed it's teethe grin and glaring red eye.

No! Komaru screamed inside her head, quickly pressing the button repeatedly. If the bear could grin any wider, it would. But for now, it savored it. It saved the slow and easy pace it took as it approached the frightened teen before itself. Starting off as a brisk walk, it slowly sped up to a small jog. Following that, it sped up it's pace once more as it unsheathed it's buried claws, the blades glistening from the ceiling lights above them. At the same time, Komaru's heart sped up more and more as it heard the loud pitter-patter of feet grow steadily louder with each passing second. At this rate if the bear didn't kill her, her heart exploding from the immense speed up would. And nearly halfway to the target, the bear crackled as it took off full speed at her, ready to rip her head from her shoulders, limb from each limb, and spew the blood from her body in one heaping gory mess of Despair. It would let everyone know, everyone not in despair, what it truly meant to oppose them.

*ding*

But it was then that salvation was heard. The elevator had finally reached her. Not wanting to leave it to the elevator door alone, Komaru quickly did her best to pry the door open with here mere fingers, trying desperately to open it faster. She needed to get it open and closed just as soon, or else she'd be in a elevator with a mechanical bear trying to kill her. It'd be no different than skinny dipping in a compact shark tank! But there it was, the first sight of room revealing itself through the elevator doors!

Although what she hadn't expected were the several men in black suits and sunglasses standing around what appeared to be another teenage boy. The teen himself seemed to be about a year, maybe two years older than Komaru herself, but still a high schooler. He seemed to be a relatively slim teen, cool and collected as his sunglasses were narrowed like spikes on the end of them. What threw her off the most though was his strange sense of fashion, seeming to be donning a large white buttoned shirt that stretched all the down to his ankles like a lab coat, and a simple orange shirt with brown pants that covered the rest of him. And don't even get her started on the three prongs of hair on his head, all right down the middle as each of them were pulled back.

"I-ergh...wha-?" Komaru didn't even know what to say about what greeted her. Were they here to save her? Were they going to kill her? Were they possibly the people who abducted her all those years ago? The only thing to answer her question was the sight of the older teen raising what seemed to be a megaphone up to her head. Saying it looked like one would be the keyword, except after a few brief seconds it began to glow with a strange blue energy that gathered at the tip of it. "A-Are you here to...k-kill m-" She didn't even get time to ask as the figure suddenly shot forth a large blast of energy, just inches from her head as it past her shoulders. Th sight of it alone was enough to knock Komaru off her feet as she fell back, following along where the shot traveled as it came upon contact with the mechanical bear that almost attacked her, shooting it square in the eye. The monster didn't even have time to touch the ground as it exploded in a glorious ball of fire and debris, parts of it falling all around them as the smoldering remains left only smoke and charred bits of metal in it's wake.

They weren't here to kill her, at least by the looks of it. That was the only sense of relief the girl felt all day as she looked back to her savior. Like any typical teen trying to show off for the girl or anyone around him, he grinned to himself as he twirled the megaphone briefly like a handgun before resting it at his side again.

"Secure the area and check the other rooms for survivors." He commanded.

"Sir!" The black-suited men and women responded as they paced through the hallways as instructed. Komaru briefly forgot about the man in front of her as she just watched the others go about their business.

Within the matter of three minutes, she went from having breakfast to having someone appear at the door, have the supposed savior be a life-sized killer black and white teddybear trying to kill her, was chased throughout her apartment and the burning remains of the complex's hallways, quickly sped through the halls to the other end where the elevator lead the key to her salvation, narrowly became the victim of a b-rated horror film, and was now being rescued by several men and woman and apparently the leader of them who to be barely any older than herself.

God Mondays were weird.

"Need a hand?" The teen offered with a calm smile. Komaru could only nod nervously as he helped her to her feet, checking her over for injuries. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Komaru muttered, still taking in everything that happened to her within the span of these last three minutes.

"You don't need to worry, we're not the same guys that imprisoned you. Matter of fact, you're the one we're actually here to rescue." So many words brought sweet joy and bliss to the young teenage girl, yet at the same time caused too many questions to spark at once.

"T-Thank you guys for saving me! It's a miracle you arrived when you did." She said with a slight bow. For some reason, the mysterious hero just gave her a strange look of disbelief at this, lowering his shades briefly as he revealed his brown eyes.

"You wanna talk miracles?" He asked rhetorically. "Try being forced to drop a hundred and eighty pounds in three months, THEN talk to me about pain and miracles." He continued to scan the surrounding area as they spoke. "So, I take it you're Komaru Naegi, right?"

"Y-Yes, I-!" Komaru's eyes winded from shock at how casually he stated her name like that, considering she hasn't mentioned a single detail like that and how suddenly he dropped her name like it was common knowledge. "W-Wait, how did you know that?" Like before, he just gave her another cheeky grin as he adjusted his shades.

"Comes with being me. The names Hifumi Yamada, head of the 8th Division science team of the Future Foundation." He declared as he walked over to the intact head of the Monokuma he destroyed. Despite the several broken wires and pieces that blew apart from it, he figured it could still be function with enough work.

That alone already created so many more confusing questions Komaru wanted answered. Who actually was he? What science division is he referring to? And who or what was the Future Foundation? So many answers she wanted yet she knew she wouldn't be able to get the answers for given the current circumstances. "And to answer you're other possible question, we received info that a person of interest was being held captive here..." He paused with a slight frown as he scratched the back of his head. "And why the hell is Monokuma here? Mix that with our sudden appearance and there's no way this could've been a coincidence."

"M-Monokuma?" She assumed that was the name of the thing that attacked her, but even then all that concerned her was what the thing actually was.

"Old spark and fuzzy over here." He commented, kicking the head a little to see if he could get any reaction from it. "The intel told us where that person was being held, and we rushed over right away to save them. Though to be honest, I was sorta expecting her to be here instead..."

"Her?" Komaru repeated curiously.

"Yeah, you know? Your sister, Makoto Naegi." Those three words alone already sent sensations of disbelief all throughout her body.

"M-My-My sister?!" Yamada nearly jumped as she grabbed onto his large white coat desperately, looking him straight in the eyes as she spoke. "What happened to her? How do you know her? Where is she?"

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hey calm down for a minute will ya?" He yelped prying her grip from his jacket. "First off, we were planning to save you after we found Naegi, so don't fret over that. Second, we only just heard you or at least someone was being held in this building, where specifically though we didn't know until now. And third, to what happened to her, we also don't know. She disappeared two months ago from the Future Foundation, we haven't heard from her since." He scoffed again as looked over the black and white head. "All that matters is everyone getting out of here right now. With the riots and breakouts going around, this city is going to be a bloodbath in a matter of days."

"R-Ri-Riot...Bloodbath...?" Komaru trembled just picturing hundreds of crazed prisoners, straight from their jail cells, rampaging through the city as they spread chaos and discord. Obviously, she didn't truly know the details of his words, and frankly it didn't matter in this case. She couldn't tell which word terrified her more, hearing about the riots or saying how this city was going to be a bloodbath days from now. "W-What bloodbath? What riots? Is something happening in the city?"

"You really were imprisoned here for over a year, weren't you?" He commented casually. Given everything he's seen in his life up to this point, nothing surprised him any more, and chances were nothing ever would again.

"And that black and white bear thing that tried to kill me, that Mono-whatever? What was that? What's going on?"

Yamada just sighed. "Ignorance is truly bliss..." He mumbled. "He was like that the first time we met him, though from the looks of it he put on a lot of weight."

"Him?"

"Ok seriously, how much do you not know about what's going on?" It wasn't a matter of annoyance, Yamada really needed to know what she did know and didn't know. It would've proved fruitful in keeping her alive, and perhaps more importantly, learn the whereabouts of Makoto Naegi.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Ugh..." Yamada groaned to himself as he pinched himself between the eyes. Rule #1 of the Yamada Code: Never let a girl feel responsible for something they can't control, or they'll get sad. Rule #2 of the Yamada Code: Never let Owada find out he made a girl sad or terrible agony would befall him. Luckily he had yet to break that rule, but at the same time, he knew he wouldn't get a second chance if the second rule was ever broken. "It's ok, I'm not blaming you or anything. It would just make everything a lot less confusing to explain."

"B-But you said you know my sister, right? What happened to her?" It was the dire question Komaru desperately needed to know.

She hadn't seen her sister for over a year now, and who knows how she was doing? She didn't even know if she was still alive by this point or kidnapped like she was! Her sister was what many would consider a shy, sheepish person when it came to meeting new people, or at least students and teens around her own age. But no matter what her personality was like, she was always there for Komaru when she needed her most. No matter how scared or sad she was, she always defended Komaru from anything, including things that scared her when she was a little girl, and times when she would get bullied herself by someone.

"She was-"

"Uuugh!" The sudden cry of pain caught both teens by surprise as they suddenly turned back towards the halls.

This was a trap. There was no more arguing over that. This was a trap, and they took the bait like a fish to worms on a hook. One by one, several of the closed doors burst opens, one of the vents of the ceiling popping off as several monokumas poured from the entryways with glee. None of the Future Foundation members were prepared or capable of fighting off the overgrown mechanisms they were attacked, quickly over powered as the bears clawed and bit into their flesh one by one.

"Damn it!" Yamada cussed, fine away at several of the bears attacking the members. "I told them we should've made more hacking guns before doing this..."

"T-There's more of them?!" Komaru yelled in disbelief. One of these things alone terrified her to no ends. She couldn't imagine there being more of them like this!

"Here." Yamada quickly tossed her a similar megaphone like the one he was using to fight with.

"What is this?"

"It's a hacking gun like mine, it's one of the only few methods of fighting these things off." He explained, destroying another two Monokoumas he shot in the eye. Yet no matter how many he shot, two more always appeared in their place.

"F-Fight? You mean you want me to fight with-"

"No, not now." He quickly interrupted, leading her inside of the elevator as quick as her feet could carry her. "Just in case you need to fend for yourself for a bit." He added as he pressed the main floor elevator button. "Listen, across the street you're going to find a diner, there's already more Future Foundation mem-Whoa!" He yelped as he quickly blasted at the Monokuma that almost lunged at him. "There's more people from the Future Foundation waiting inside. They'll take you somewhere safe, just follow them.

"B-But what about you?" Komaru didn't want to just leave someone out just to die while she got away. In fact it didn't make sense why he didn't just follow her into the elevator!

"I'm gonna hold off he Monokumas so they can't mess with the elevator, otherwise a simple cable cut could send you falling to your death since we're ten floors up." He explained.

"B-But-"

"Hey, relax." He interrupted with a cheeky grin. "I'm the hero of this story, and the heroes never die." Those were the last words he spoke before charging back into the Monokumas, Hacking Gun a-blazing as the elevator doors slowly shut before Komaru. To be honest, he would've preferred this actually being some sort of anime. It was every fan boy's dream to be the star of their own anime story, but he supposed he would just have to settle for real life for the time being. He could at least say he rescued a cute damsel in distress, at least that he could mark that off his list of life's goals (which dwindled down immensely after the Catastrophe).

Besides, he was feeling optimistic with Hope, and there was no way he could abandon any of the other members if they're still alive, right? And whoever heard of the main hero dying in their story?

...At least that he read...

...

...

...

Komaru was out of breath by the time she exited the building. She didn't see anyone within the confines of the lobby, only furniture and scenery destroyed and torn to shreds by what she could only assume were more Monokumas that were possibly flooding the city as we speak. None of this made any sense to her, and all the same she cared little for it either. All she knew was that people were dying, some crazy group of people suddenly saved her out of nowhere, her sister was missing entirely, and she didn't have a single clue as to what was going on! All she knew were the final instructions given to her about finding the diner where the Future Foundation people were waiting for her. Luckily for her, the search was literally finished in seconds as it came within few mere seconds after leaving the building.

Unfortunately for her, trouble soon followed.

"Ahhhhhhhh!' The sudden scream of terror sent chills down Komaru's spine as she looked down the street. There she was greeted by the sight of hell itself as she could only gasp to herself in response.

There, several to near dozens of Monokuma were surrounding what used to be busy streets of the city, slaughtering dozens upon dozens of innocent people caring not for the destruction or the pathetic vehicles several of them tried to hide in.

"W-What is going on..." She cried to herself. It didn't make sense, any sense at all! How could the entire city be overrun with all these mechanical killing machines just out of the blue like this? Wasn't there any warning of them coming, wouldn't people be able to respond faster to some state of emergency like this? The only thing she could conclude was that this literally just started minutes ago, perhaps around the same time the Monokuma broke her out of the apartment she was trapped in. With that said, it still made things even more mysterious in how they all had to coincide at the exact same time she broke out of her apartment, just like Yamada said.

 ***CRASH***

Her thoughts were interrupted at the sudden crash that shook the ground before her. Turning around, she saw the other end of the street being inflicted with the same horrific scenario that befell the first street she saw. She was frozen with fear as she could only watch one of said Monokuma impale their victim through the roof of the car itself, mounds of pink blood dripping endlessly from his freshly sharpened claws, before continuing to stab into the flesh even more. It was pure horror straight out of a horror movie, one where people could tell would never end in a happy ending, only ending after each and every survivor was dead.

Despite the horror of the situation, she forced her own two feet to drag forward, speeding towards the restaurant as fast they could carry her. "Someone help me!" She cried as she ran across the street. She couldn't afford to just wait around for someone to help her across the street, much less help her at all until she entered the Diner. People were literally dying every second, and if this was happening all over the city they were in then hundreds to thousands of people could be dying right as they speak! There was no way any one was going to come help her out in the open while the bears were slaughtering the masses, not that she could blame them all things considered.

Luckily for her the Restaurant seemed to be relatively peaceful, which was actually more questionable than it was good. Did it mean none of them were aware of the disaster taking place right now outside of these walls? How could they just be minding their own business with no concern or care about the people outside? Better yet, why didn't they just look out the stupid windows where people were being slaughtered?! Whatever the case was, she didn't care. All she was concerned with was pushing through the doorways as fast as she could, panting out of breath after the brief run she just did.

"Welcome," a waitress greeted as she made her way to the register, "table for one?"

"B-b-b-b-be-be-", Komaru was struggling to get the words out, her heart still racing a mile a minute as she struggled to breathe, "b-be-Bear attack!"

"A bear?" There were many things the woman was expecting to hear, but that was the last of them. She nearly jumped as Komaru frantically grabbed onto her shoulder.

"B-Bears! Bears everywhere!"

"M-Miss, now please-!" The woman's pleas were fallen on deaf ears as the strange girl continued to ramble.

"You have to call the military, the paramedics, hurry!" Komaru begged tearing up. "If we don't hurry..."

"Miss please, keep your voice down, you're disturbing the other customers..." Perhaps disturbing wasn't the correct term, but it was definitely a distraction. If it wasn't the tacky ramblings that distracted them from their meals and orders, it was definitely the strange mumblings about bear attacks for sure. And even that wasn't guaranteed considering the girl was going ballistic about requiring military and paramedical expertise to resolve the situation.

"Who cares about that?! Hurry-!"

"Alright, fine, just please be quiet ok?" The woman surrendered to her demands as she made her way over to the phone. "Relax and stay calm..." Maybe things were looking better for Komaru after all. All she need now was to board up the doorways, wait for the lady to get the police here or somebody to help them, then they could just evacuate the city with armed forces assisting them. Each click of the buttons she heard from the phones sent another wave of relaxation through Komaru, telling her the troubles were finally over. "Hello? Police? There's a suspicious girl her-"

 ***CRASH***

"Ahh!" Komaru yelped in fright at the sudden attack. She was so close to safety, she just knew it. Yet, before the lady could finish her call, a large Monokuma suddenly lunged through the window, shattering it to pieces as it attacked the unsuspecting waitress. Komaru quickly ducked her head in fright, only to regret looking ahead as she opened her eyes once more.

It was a massacre. Within the few seconds that one Monokuma attacked the waitress, dozens of other monokumas suddenly invaded the peaceful Diner, shattering windows and killing innocents all throughout the diner one by one. It was a nightmare. This could be nothing more than a nightmare that Komaru couldn't wake up from. That was the only possible explanation for any of this! This day started out the same like any other, and within the last half hour alone all hell literally broke loose within the city!

The next thing she knew, she saw the corpse of the waitress lady being thrown right in front of her, holding her mouth tightly to avoid letting out the terrified scream of despair. She couldn't make a sound, not a single peep. All she could do was crawl back under the table she was near, hidden in the shadows, and pray to whatever god would answer that she wasn't found. That didn't stop the waterfall of tears that trickled down her face of course. How could she, or anyone for that matter, be expected to take this so easily? Even a policeman who survived numerous gun fights on the worst days of his career would not be able to keep their sanity cool and collected after being exposed to this much carnage!

 ***rumble***

That small vibration of the ground nearly made her jump from fear as she gazed over the table atop of her. Sure enough, there was another Monokuma, observing the surrounding locations and the now-deceased denizens of the diner. It took every ounce of willpower to keep Komaru from screaming right then and there, the pink blood dripping so close to her that it almost touched her toes. Their mission was simplistic, almost as simple as a direction given to any child: kill any and all adults before them and rip them to shreds. Make this place a paradise! And what better way to continue that mission than to head into the kitchen where piles of steam could be seen bellowing from? In fact, that's the same idea every monokuma got as they observed the heat signatures flowing through the air.

"Emergency!" A sudden voice screamed out, catching Komaru's attention. It was hard to tell at first, given her current position, but she could finally see the source of the voice. On the downside, it was coming from a TV announcer, confirming to her that she was one of the only and last survivors left within the Diner, at least that wasn't mechanical. Taking another glance, she noticed how strangely empty the Diner became, all the Monokumas seemingly vanished from place. Perhaps they were all gathered in the kitchen trying to kill whatever chef or chefs remained within the vicinity? All that mattered to her though were the few seconds of peace, carefully crawling out from under the table, but staying low to the ground to avoid any Monokuma's seeing her from outside the Restaurant.

"Riots are breaking out all over Towa City!" The announcer continued. "Oh god...Take refuge immediately! I repeat, citizens of Towa City take refuge!" He screamed panicking. The entire time all Komaru could do was hold the megaphone close to her chest. What was she to do now? She's never felt so helpless in her life before, she doesn't know if anyone's ever felt so helpless in their life before! She was like a child caught in the middle of a war zone, just jumping from place to place while the gunfire and explosions went across the fields constantly.

"Y-Yo-You say that...b-but..." It was hard enough for Komaru to speak aloud, each word trembling with her voice which suffocated her greatly. "W-What should I do...th-they're gonna find me..." She wanted to cry. She wanted nothing more than for everything to leave her alone so she could cry. At least then she would be safe where no one could harm her. Yet the one thing that kept shaking amongst her were her hands, specially the gun she was holding in them. This was her only means of fighting back if they ever came back, ever tried to kill her again."I gotta get out of here..." The sweat poured from her face as the tears slowly came to a still.

She had to do this, she couldn't wallow in the same place for the rest of her life, however short that would be at this point. Breathing in deeply, she clenched the gun tightly in her hands, ready to fight back against any of the Monokumas as needed. Luckily for her, and strangely at the same time, the place was empty save for the corpses, which made things even more strange and confusing. Were they all still within the kitchen, provided they even went there to begin with? Did they all just leave which she knew was farfetched? On the bright side, it did seem empty of the monokumas, which fortunately meant some time to collect her thoughts and catch her breath.

Unfortunately though, fate had other ideas.

"Heh..." A small voice suddenly giggled.

"Huh?" Was that a child's voice? An actual child? Come to think of it, amongst the many dead bodies she's seen, she had yet to see a single kid around here. Maybe they managed to slip by while their parents fended off the monokumas to protect them? That would be the only assumption she could make anyway.

"Hehehe..." There it was again, that childish laughter.

"W-Who's there?" Komaru asked around, unable to tell where the voice was coming from. It only took a few seconds of looking around to find the source of the voice, the TV from earlier that the announcer was speaking from just moments ago. "The TV...?"

The imagery of the TV terrified her, perhaps more than the surroundings at the moment. There, displayed right before her eyes was the sight of, what used to be, the living announcer that warned everyone to seek shelter. Now, al that remained was his corpse lumped over the table with blood splattered off to the sides of him. At some point, he was murdered without Komaru's attention to it. A part of her wonders if it was more peaceful like that, to go out on your own without any knowledge of when or where you were going to be killed, living blissfully until your sudden death.

Then, she saw it. As the giggling continued she saw a little girl, barely any taller than the chairs around her, walking to the center of the screen behind the man's desk. It was a wonder to see any child like that out in the open. In fact, it was almost shocking at how casually she was. Didn't she know the man in front of her was dead? Doesn't she know about all the strange bloody carnage taking place throughout the entire city? Perhaps fate didn't plan on answering those questions for her, because the sight of the man's head being lifted by a red-haired boy with headphones and a bandaid under his left eye completely snapped her out of her confused state of wonder. Now, she was just shocked.

"Bah! Bah! Bah! Bah!" The boy roared, playing with the head of the dead body. "I'm a zombie!" It was then the camera zoomed out once more, showing Komaru a second, what she could only assume to be a boy since it was covered from head to toe in brown leather, holding up the other arm of their "toy" waving it around as the kid did. "Rawr! Rawr! I'm gonna eat ya!" He stated, turning the zombie towards the pink haired child.

"Oh no, please don't eat me!" She playfully pleaded.

"Hey Masaru, do zombies really say rawr like that...?" The leather-covered boy asked in an uncaring tone. "I'm really having trouble getting past that you know..."

"Mhh who cares," The boy yelled back, "I told you only style is important for this sorta thing." He mumbled before facing the pink-haired girl once again. "Rawr, rawr! I'm hungry! I'm gonna eat ya!"

"Eek, no! Please don't eat meeee!" The girl playfully pleaded once more, running away as the monster gave "chase". "Eep, no, no! Please don't violate meeee! Please don't humiliate meeee! " She cried playfully, jumping into the camera's view for a brief moment. "Uh uh, kiddie porn is a no no!" She warned. Komaru didn't even want to know what the girl was talking about, especially if it actually was as bad as the girl was making it sound like.

"Wh-What are these kids doing with that body...?" But all the same, Komaru could only watch the scene before her in disgust and horror. How were these children's being so playful in a situation like this? Better yet, how in the world could they bring themselves to play with someone's dead body like it was nothing more than a toy? Didn't they understand that it wasn't just some toy for kids to play with? It was someone's dead body for crying out loud! Someone who was once living and breathing like they ere, and they were using it no better than a rag doll!

"Hey, what are you doing?" Another young kid spoke up as he made his way on screen. He seemed to be more professional than the other kids despite not being any taller than him, wagging his finger like any proper adult at the misbehaving kids. Aside from the outfit, the other noticeable quality of him aside from his two-pronged spiked hair was the orangish scarf wrapped around his neck. "You need to be more serious!"

"Aww lighten up Nagisa..." Masaru moaned as he rolled his eyes. "Let's just have some fun."

"Didn't I tell you this broadcast was important?" He reminded. "What if big sis found out you were playing like a bunch of children?" That last comment seemed to capture their attention, which he was thoroughly proud of. Finally! He could get the demand and respect he needed to finally get this operation underway!...At least it would if he was the one they were all looking at.

"Rawwwwrrrrr!" A playful yet monstrous roar erupted from behind him, nearly making him jump in surprise. The rest of the kids screamed playfully at the sight of the dead police officer being held in the arms of the mysterious sister Komaru could only assume who they were referring to. She couldn't make out the face yet, but the outfit definitely looked like that of a high school girl, and she could see bangs of pinkish-red hair off to the side of the camera, "I'm a demooooon, I'm going to eat you all up! Rawr rawr rawr!" She grumbled monstrously.

"Oh no!" The playful kids laughed once more as they dropped the body, running from fright at the "zombie police officer" that was being chased to them. Nagisa only sighed to himself as he rubbed his head, knowing he should've expected this sorta thing from even her.

"C'mon guys, seriously. This is the Warriors of Hope Keynote address!" Nagisa pleaded for their attention as e turned back to the camera. Before he could make it far however, he was suddenly grabbed by the ghastly hands of the zombie from behind the table, ones that dragged him behind the table before seeming to claw at him from all angles.

"Mmh, yummy flesh! Yummy child flesh!" The mystery sister spoke up. It took a moment before Komaru realized that the cries of terror coming from behind the table were actually playful laughter at a child being tickled to death.

"Ack-! Ahahaha! haah! S-Si-Sis please! You're g-go-gonna make me pee!" Nagisa pleaded to no avail. It only worsened for the young blue-haired boy as several of the other children suddenly dog piled onto the same spot, sending the entire group into a roller coaster of laughter.

All the same though, Komaru could only cover her mouth in disgust. It wasn't just these kids playing around the corpse of these people, but some teenager too! Who the heck was she? Was she really their big sister? On top of that, could she be the real one behind all this? It would be the only thing she could think of, unable to comprehend how mere children could pull all of this off. That had to be it, she had to be the mastermind!

...But who the heck was she?!

It was only then that the sound of a mechanical chair could be heard going off, the sight of a green haired girl in a mechanical wheelchair finally distracting her from her thought. It probably would've been more of a distraction if the side view of the children running around with the older teen wasn't just as distracting.

"Citizens of Towa City," The girl greeted in a nice and calm manner, "nice to meet you! We are the Warriors of Hope. And we have a game to offer you by our wonderful big sister." She stated, rolling off to the side. The teen herself stopped running as she got to one side, apparently distracted by someone informing her of her sudden role in all this. Taking a moment to catch their own breath, they walked around to the table, kicking off the corpse of what used to be the officer, before casually and happily sliding into the comfortable rotating chair before them.

It was only then that Komaru recognized that face, seeing it a dozen times in her fashion magazines back home and during her imprisonment.

This was Junko Enoshima.

"Hello there Towa City." She greeted with a generous smile. "My name is Junko Enoshima, and starting today, you all get to partake in this wonderful game created by these wonderful Warriors of Hope." She gestured to the four kids who were waving behind her. Starting from Masaru on her far left waving both arms with much enthusiasm, followed by the brown-leather boy who just gave a mellow wave with his sleeved hand. Coming up on her far right was the pink-haired girl, who gave a bit of a twirl before a cute wave. And following that was Nagisa, who gave a firm, simple nod of acknowledgement as he crossed his arms. Looking off to the right, Junko watched as thee wheel chaired girl slowly made her way to them, happily lifting her from her seat as she placed her on her lap before the camera.

"Many of you might be wondering things, such as who am I? Why are these bears trying to kill me? And why do I have such a smelly butt?" She joked, earning a small chuckle from most of the kids near her. "Well, I'm afraid I can't help you with that last part, but luckily, I can more than say for certain," she paused as the camera zoomed in straight into her left eye, "you're going to die like the demons you are."

That utterance, that one single phrase caused Komaru to shake violently, covering herself as if she was cold. This couldn't possibly be right! Was this truly THE Junko Enoshima? The fashion model her and her sister heard tales about with all her famous modeling? Perhaps it would've been a more wondrous detail if it wasn't for the fact she just declared a death sentence for what she could only assume was every person in this city. She confirmed for sure that she was the mastermind behind all this, the one pulling the strings. The only thing she needed answered was what did she want?

"This pig-filled, dirty rotten, scum sucking city where you rodents continue to hide away from the outside world, where you selfishly hide from the despair everyone else is suffering. Quite frankly, you're nothing more than selfish demons. That's why, starting today, we're going to eradicate all the bad men and women of this city, and build a paradise where children ev-"

"Cough..." A sudden voice interrupted.

"Hmm?" Junko and the kids looked around briefly, curious about the origin of the mysterious voice. "Where...children everywhere can-"

"Ugghh...gghghghghhhh...gaaah..." Their attention shifted to Junko's left, all eyeing the floor before them as it trailed along the way.

"Hey look, the officer creep is still alive." Masaru said in a casual tone. All Komaru could see was the weak bloodied hand rising slowly to the top of the table.

"P-P-Please...he-help me..." It begged.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Just hang on, I can fix that." Junko declared before pointing a gun at the floor.

 ***BANG!***

"Huh-!" Komaru almost let out a scream right then and there, her heart skipping a beat at the sudden gunshot that resonated throughout the TV's audio and the diner itself. She could only feel the tears pour from her eyes once again as she hand steadily fell to where it once raised. She couldn't believe it, she could not believe a single piece of it. Even after all she had seen, after all the people killed before her on this day, she just witnessed a girl kill an officer right in front of them, in front of little kids no less! And just like the rest of it, none of them seemed phase. They looked at the officer, who definitely had another hole added to him, like he was just some bum they found on the sidewalk. They didn't even flinch when she fired her gun at him! At most the green-haired girl just covered her ears from the noise!

"Here you go Masaru, go make sure he doesn't interrupt again." Junko commanded calmly as she handed him the gun. Masaru looked no different than any other kid who gets excited when rummaging through their dad's gun cabinet, eagerly pulling the body away from the table with the leather-faced kid's help. "Remember kiddies, never play with guns without big sis' supervision!" She stated in a playful tone. She never even eyed the two as the gunshots continued off screen, only a flash of light blinking from each gunfire for the next five shots.

"I so totally leveled up from that!" He announced with glee as he and the other kid returned to the camera view, several blotches of blood covering himself. He happily handed the gun back to big sis who tapped his head in approval with a warm smile.

"Now then, as I was saying, we're going to make a Utopia for us, where children can live peacefully every day for the rest of their lives! Where no evil people can tell them when to go to bed, to eat their veggies before dessert, where they can be anything they want to! And of course," she paused dramatically as she suddenly twirled the gun again before pointing it at the camera, "that means we need to get rid of every last one of you evil demons."

 ***click***

"Hngh-!" Komaru's heart skipped a beat again as she flinched, expecting another bullet to dislodge from the firearm. Apparently she didn't have the only thought as Junko looked over the gun again in annoyed irritation.

"Hmmm, what's the point of those stupid demons making something that can only fire six times!" She grumbled before tossing the gun off camera into whatever shattering it caused. "You see? You demons are good for nothing! You fight each other, kill each other, steal from others, you just...just...sniff...Waaaahhhhhhhhh!" That was definitely the last thing Komaru expected to see, but like every other thing today, she was met with surprise as Junko herself started bursting with tears gushing out of her eyes in a cartoonish manner. As one could expect, the younger children simply looked on her with worry.

"Oh no! Big sis, please don't cry! Everything's going to be okay!" Masaru begged before glaring at the camera. "You see what you demon asses did! You made big sis cry!"

"Do you wanna hit me some more big sis? That usually cheers you up...?" The leather-kid wondered, more concern with her wellbeing than his.

"Shut up, Jataro, this is serious!" The pink-haired girl shrieked.

"It-It'll be alright big sis, honest!" Nagisa tried to comfort, patting her shoulder.

"Noooo, you're just saying thaaaaaaat!" Junko cried.

"N-No, really it is! I promise we'll eradicate every single adult from this city- no! The world!" He promised. This seemed to calm the former fashionista down somewhat to mere sniffle.

"Tch...sniff...you promise?" She whined, still unsure how to take this.

"I'll make my special treats after this to cheer you up!" The green-haired girl's promise worked almost instantly as Junko went from a depressed crybaby to a happy-as-can-be kid once more.

"Ok!" She chirped, earning a sigh from the fellow "siblings" once more as they faced the camera again. "Now as I said, you're all selfish greedy little demons, and nothing good can come from you. But luckily for you all, being the merciful angel I am, I have a challenge that will make even the filthiest of demons happy as a newborn baby!"

"Let's give three cheers for Big Sis' Junko!" Masaru announced with excitement.

"Yaaa! Yaaa! Yaaaaaaa!" The four kids cheered in unison, raising their fists into the air with with each cheer. Only Nagisa had a small pink blush at this as he looked away while cheering, feeling embarrassed due to the mature nature of his status.

"Hmhmhm, thank you, thank you, you're too kind." She replied, spinning in her back briefly for her and the green haired girl's enjoyment. "But seriously now, let's talk about a special game. In a day or so, everyone still within the city is going to be a very special player, at least the adults anyway, in a very special game. The rules of that game will be detailed with later, but for right now, there is absolutely zero way to get out of this game...except for one..." She teased with a sly grin. "See, there's only one of two ways you'll get out of the game, either by winning or losing, and, I'll be honest, you have a verily good chance of losing."

"But there is one other way, one special way which I'd like to call the Bonus Game! The bonus game will be a simple by-the-book scavenger hunt, really. Over time, the images and names of certain players will be displayed on a blimp. Those demons are going to be extra special bonus points for anyone who catches one dead or alive!" With the click of a remote Junko pulled out from under the table, the camera turned to the side a little as it began displaying black and white wanted posters of various real people. She almost trembled at several of the wanted posters with a large pink X gashed through them, almost wishing she didn't know what they meant. "These demons are going to be the toughest of the toughie, the smartest of the smarties, and the ugliest of the ugly."

"I thought all demons were ugly, big sis?" The green girl commented curiously as she looked up.

"Hmhmhm, good point." Junko chuckled as she patted her head. "Anyway, as some of you may have guessed, any of them with an X over them has already been dealt with, so there's no point getting them or trying to catch them dead or alive. However, to anyone who manages to bring one to a Monokuma or child of the city, and if they like you enough, they may let you out of the game and out of the city altogether, and more importantly, alive!"

*click*

"Huh!" Komaru's jaw dropped along with the hacking gun in her hands as everything became still.

There was no way for her could believe it, she didn't even want to believe it! But given every single thing she's heard up to this point, every detail she was aware of up till now, there's no way this one could possibly be fake. Being the last image shown before them, there she saw it- a picture of her own sister, Makoto Naegi, labeled as one of the many demons displayed on the television. Much to her relief the lack of an X over it indicated she was still alive, thank god. However, as if sensing the slightest trickle of hope emanating from every viewer watching this, Junko continued.

"And before you, is the ugliest, filthiest, dirtiest demon known to mankind, and one who's free game when hunting." Junko said with a wide smile. "The conditions for her aren't necessary or wanted by any of the Monokuma's whatsoever. The only condition is: You better bring her in dead..."

...

...

...

 _ **A/N: Awww gawwwwd I can feel it in my bones! The joy I once felt from writing these fics over and over again! It's not like "mojo" or whatever that drove me before, this one's quite different. It's that same ungodly feel you get when you complete a big piece of work to a satisfying level ^^ like beating the bonus boss of an extremely hard RPG! Ooohhohohoh i feel so gooood again ^^**_

 _ **Anyway, here we are guys! The first chapter to the sequel fic i mentioned! I'll be honest, I was overly shocked I managed to pump this to so fast, but again, it was actually a lot of fun for what it's worth. And for those wondering, yes- I am doing bonus episodes for this fic too. Conditions are usually the same as before, the tenth reviewer of every ten or so will be the lucky winner. Till then, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave a like, a fave, and as always, please review to leave your thoughts and all ^^**_

 _ **This is going to be a VERY fun fanfic, I can guarantee that much X)**_

 _ **I also would like to propose a bonus opportunity to all my faithful viewers: If you want a guaranteed-to-happen bonus episode, perhaps several, or perhaps better where I add something to the MAIN story, then all you need to do is simple: find a cover fitting for this series, not the Despair Girl's actual cover (with Fukawa on it), find a cover I can use on this series, and aside from having your cover posted on here, you'll have a nice fitting and lengthy bonus chapter of anything you wanna see in this series- several bonus chapters if the cover is amazing X)**_


	2. From Hell's Kitchen to Hell's Joyride

**_A/N: Hiya folks! Not much to say here this time around, but I'm loving the feedback from the recent fanfic so far ^^ 4 reviews, 4 favs, and already 10 follows, and considering this was posted around 6-7 last night, I find those to be good odds ^^._**

 ** _And as followed, still looking for a Danganronpa Ultra Despair Girl's cover, so any info you can send will help :P Only condition- it can not have fukawa on it for obvious reasons XP. So if you find one, that'll award you with several nice bonus episode! But, if you somehow manage to make it yourself (provided it's obviously not stick figures of course XP) then you'll be given a grand DOZEN free bonus episodes of your choice and then some ^^_**

 ** _So with that outta the way, enjoy!_**

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...

 **Entry #2:**

 **Dear Mr. D,**

 **I introduced my new friend to my other friends today, and they had a blast! We played games, told stories, and so much more! At snack time we even told a funny joke that made milk spill out their nose and everybody laughed. I just know we're going to be great BFFs!**

...

...

...

 _Around a year and a half ago... A certain incident completely changed the world. Apparently, the origin of the incident was a student movement at a certain school... But the school covered it up, so it was too late when the world finally realized... It grew out of control, becoming a monster that swallowed the entire world. It couldn't have just been some riot or student protest. It had to be something far deeper. That much should be obvious... It did come from Hope's Peak Academy, after all._

 _Eventually, the incident grew so much in strength and scale that it threw the world into despair. Theft, arson, brutality, murder... The violent crime rate went off the charts. Violence spawned revenge, which fueled more violence, driving the crime rate even higher. Before long, a global war broke out. A war not for land or ideals, but only for the sake of war._

 _A war that tainted the world with despair._

 _But even with all this evil and chaos, I had complete faith in my world. And even when it felt like I was falling, I kept believing. "It's still okay, it's alright..." Then, I found out that 7 of my classmates died suspiciously. I fell further still. But even then, I kept telling myself, "It's all going to be fine, don't be afraid..." But the realization that it was too late came to me like the ground rushing up to break my fall._

 _A group of men I had never seen before broke into my house and separated me from my family. The world I had been living in up to that moment collapsed. Everything changed. And since that horrible and unjust imprisonment, a year and a half passed... I was supposed to be a normal high school girl, but instead I became a complacent prisoner._

 _And what was waiting for me at the end of that despair was a despair even deeper, even worse. There's no use in keeping hope. That's what I was forced to realize once again..._

And with that, the TV turned off.

This was officially the worst day of Komaru's entire life.

In little under an hour, she went from some semi-average girl who was imprisoned in an apartment for a year and a half, was broken out by a deranged killer animatronic sent there to kill her, was rescued by some teen outta nowhere with a bunch of men and women who looked like they came straight out of an action movie, was chased across the streets by even more rioting bears into a diner where they continued the slaughter, and if that wasn't enough the TV broadcasted a message by a group of children and a fashion model declaring war on adults.

It only got worse from there.

On the bright side of anything, upon the message reaching it's end, Komaru was left in a mix of shock and joy to find out her sister was not only part of the new bonus game, but was still alive at the same time. It was only comforting since it declared she was indeed alive after all this time, but all the same it presented another problem.

To get out of the new apparent "Game", you had to either die, or somehow win, which Junko herself declared with excitement at how that was all but impossible. However, as if to solely target her, there was one alternative way to get out of the game. Over time, contestants of the future game were going to be displayed over a blimp within the city, and if someone wanted out of the game without losing or somehow winning, they needed to capture one of the so-called bonus demons and bring them to a Monokuma or a child who was playing the game.

And that didn't guarantee anything if the Monokumas or children didn't decide to kill them anyway.

But the one way that did assure them a way out was also the worst case about this scenario. While she couldn't figure out why Junko would target out her sister personally, you were guaranteed freedom if you managed to bring back Naegi to any of the aforementioned people. But unlike everyone else where it was an option between bringing them back in alive or dead, in this case scenario, she was required to be brought in dead by all standards. She couldn't be captured alive, she couldn't be just brought to them and then killed right before them, she had to be one-hundred percent dead.

So now here she was, stuck in the middle of whatever twisted game they were talking about in a practical warzone of killer teddy bears, a factor she realized all too quickly. It was here that she slid down the pillar behind her to the ground, squeezing her head in frustration, agony, terror, sadness, and most of all a never-ending whirlpool of despair.

"W-Why is this happening?" She cried to herself. "I-If I knew this was going to happen, I would've stayed in my room forever..."

"'Ey wha' are youse 'um bearths doin' in mah 'itchen?!" A voice suddenly yelled out in rage, catching Komaru's attention. The voice itself sounded like it was echoing all over the place, but the description she heard was all she needed to know it was emanating from the kitchen. "'o on, 'et! 'et!"

The next thing Komaru knew, literally dozens of Monokuma's came rushing out of the kitchen in a mad dash, heading straight for her. "A-Ahhh- no!" Komaru yelped in fear as she began to run away. "Whoa-!"

 ***thud***

"Oww..." Komaru was caught by surprise as her feet accidentally stepped on the very same Hacking Gun she dropped moments ago, only just now realizing how it slipped out of her hands seconds earlier. As if to add insult to injury, literally in this case, the next thing she was greeted with was her head colliding with the floor below her, momentarily dazed as she landed forehead first into the carpet yet rough floor. "Ngh..." Her momentary daze was met with absolute terror as her vision focused once more, clearing the up the sight of the dozen monokuma's heading straight for her.

It was already too late for her to grab the gun to defend herself.

"No..no...no...!" Was all Komaru could mutter before covering herself with her arms defensively. This was it, there was no way she was going to be able to fend off this many Monokumas all at the same time when she didn't even have the gun in her hands. They were going to rip her to shreds, pull her apart, rip her innards out in a brutal gory fashion. It was game over for her.

At least it would have, under normal circumstances. Perhaps it was another miracle brought on to her, or perhaps it was just the power of Hope itself answering her cries of help. Whatever the case was, the next thing she knew all the Monokumas were running straight past her, not even giving her a second thought before leaping out the windows to continue the carnage out on the streets. It took Komaru a few seconds to realize this as she opened her eyes again, overfilled with relief at the Monokuma-less diner.

"T-They...They left...?" She wondered to herself, looking around. Sure enough, it was exactly as she said. There wasn't a single Monokuma left within the diner for reasons she had yet to contemplate. Maybe they weren't trying to kill her after all? Maybe they only targeted full-fledged adults? Those would be the only two possible explanations behind this, or at least ones that made sense to her.

She knew better though than to continue on with this line of thought. People were still dying all over, and standing around to wait and see what happens would only end with her death. Quickly shaking her head of the few moments of dizziness she still had, she picked up the gun as she observed her surroundings once more. "That Yamada guy said there was supposed to be more people here, right?" She asked herself, trying to think. "We were supposed to meet up...so where are they-"

"Oh 'ood, you 'ah 'ere!" A voice suddenly called out with glee, catching Komaru's attention once more.

"Huh...!" Komaru couldn't believe her luck. "Oh thank god! A survivor!" She cried. A survivor! An actual factual survivor! And a chef no less! She couldn't tell if he was an adult or a teen, given the seemingly 4 foot height, but she would honestly take anything at this point as she rushed over to him with relief.

The chef himself was dressed just about the same way you'd expect any chef to be dressed in, except as opposed to the casual white attires the chefs always wore, this one was donned in red, from his clothing, to his apron, even to his chef hat. At least his smile was comforting to her, like he was expecting him to meet her here.

"P-Please... you have to help..." Komaru sniffled, trying to contain the fear and small amount of joy she felt at the moment. "T-Th-The bears...killing everyone..." She hated herself for getting choked up again like she did with the waitress. If she had spoken in a calm demeanor maybe the waitress would still be alive at this point, or at least the police would possibly be on their way.

""ow, 'ow, you juth calm you'self 'hild," the chef replied leading her over to a chair by the kitchen door, "'em 'ears ain' 'llowed in dith pa'the!" It would've been more reassuring if she could understand half the things coming out of his mouth, he had a strange slur to it. But if she got the gist of what he was saying though, he said those bears weren't allowed in the diner...

Why was that? Better yet, what made him so different that the bears chose to listen to him in the first place? No, the best question to ask: WHY WERE THEY LISTENING TO HIM AT ALL?!

"'ow you ju'th 'tay pu', an' ah make you mah be'th di'th!" He ordered, quickly dashing into the kitchen once more. This didn't feel right, none of it did. Why did the bears just listen to him out of nowhere like that out of all the other people? And why did they completely ignore her when the chef shooed them out of the restaurant as such? "O'ay, i'th doon!" He announced, quickly coming back out of the kitchen with a warm plate of food right before her.

She had to admit at the very least of things, it did smell rather pleasant, but that was quickly put off by the appearance of the bizarre looking food. It looked like some mix of grounded up meat chunks stashed together at the last second. It was actually rather amazing how the food didn't smell as bad as it looked, cause the look alone was enough to make her feel sick.

"'ow, 'o on an t'y ih!" He suggested, scooping up a portion in a wooden spoon as he offered it to her.

"O-Oh, umm t-that's alright, I'm really- mmph!" She was cut off quickly after as he wasted no time shoving the first spoonful into her mouth.

"'ell? 'o you 'ike? 'o you 'ike?" He wondered with excitement.

It was hard to describe anything at the given time, but to be honest it tasted wonderful! Despite the appearance of the food, it definitely matched the aroma of the food to begin with. The temperature was matched to absolute perfection given it the perfect temperature that wasn't too cold, but at the same time didn't burn her tongue all the same. The texture itself was also indescribable! It had a strange mix of a meaty chunk like ham and bacon, but at the same time was smooth like vanilla pudding, which actually felt better than it sounded.

Mixing it all together it created a unique and incredible dish that was the very definition of not judging a book by it's cover. There were definitely some spices put in, but those only enhanced the flavors of meal itself, it didn't overtake the flavor which would've taken over the taste entirely. Even with the finger the taste of the food was like a mix of every pasta and meat dish she ever had in her life! Mixing every single bit of it to create such a perfect recipe-

Finger. Komaru blinked at what she just said to herself. Clearly she was just imagining things too much as she stopped chewing briefly, taking out the thick piece of meat she caught in the back of her mouth. There's no way there was something-

"Finger...?" Komaru spoke to herself as she looked at what she pulled out. Nail, skin, even some notable blood vessel that were almost missable. It was a finger. Komaru's sudden meal apparently had a finger in it. Looking back to the dish itself, her pupils went blank. At least several more noticeable fingers were here and there, and what she could only believe was a toe. Her vision began to haze over as she slowly raised the finger in front of herself and the chef once more, mouth slowly gaping open with utmost horror.

She knew she swallowed some of it.

"'ell? Youse 'ike, 'ight?" The chef asked with joy.

"...E...Eg...Eghh...Urghghghghhh...Oofp-!" She couldn't hold it down.

 ***BLAAAEGH!"**

All of her stomach contents, including the bits of breakfast she had that morning, were suddenly heaved from her mouth as her stomach vacated the premises, falling to the ground in front of her and knocking the dish away in terror. She couldn't believe it, not one bit of it. It was one thing to experience everything she did in the short manner of minutes since she woke up this morning, but this was by far the most sickening thing she had done today, and not just because she literally threw up a few seconds ago.

She just ate a person. She actually chewed a bit, swallowed some, and ate whatever twisted dish was served to her by this maddening chef. She couldn't even keep her emotions bottled up as she regurgitated another healthy mouthful of food onto the floor in front of her. The shock of the value was almost enough to make her pass out, the fear of it all being the only thing to keep her from doing so.

"Allo lavine!" The chef screamed, looking at his destroyed dish as he scraped it up with his hands. His brief moment of fear quickly turned to rage as his eyes began to glow once more. "All youse 'ustomer'th ju'th like th'e 'th'aid! Youse all ea' mah mea', 'urn it to shi', and 'en ea' more, and 'urn 'at to shi' 'oo! YOUSE ALL EATIN' MAH SHI'! ALL YOU EA' I'TH SHI'!" He screamed running back into the kitchen. During the few brief seconds the swivel door was opened, Komaru's eyes narrowed in even more terror.

By the back of the kitchen, over by the fridge, was the corpse of the Future Foundation member. The member she was supposed to meet here soon after escaping from her apartment. Only now, he wasn't even alive to tell her what to do. All she could tell by the bloodied legs and hands that were chopped off was who she was just eating a moment ago. And you'd think seeing the corpse of the person would be enough to keep her attention distracted forever, but no.

Instead, the next sight she greeted with was the mad chef blocking the view of the corpse with his own person, and the large meat cleaver nearly his size that he was wielding in his hands.

"If youse nah gonna be mah cu'thomer, den ah ma'e youse mah 'eal! AHHHHHHHHHH!" He roared in absolute fury. It was only now while his mouth was hanged open from rage that Komaru could see why she was speaking so strangely. He didn't have a tongue himself.

"Ahhhh!" Komaru quickly yelped as she jumped to her feet quickly, sprinting down the floor before the meat cleaver struck her. She didn't have time to catch her breath despite how dizzy from sickness she felt or mortified about what she just consumed awhile ago. She was going to have to hold in her stomach for now as the mad chef made a break for her at surprising speeds. Much to her shock, the next attack he attempted caused him to leap through the air itself, jumping at least several feet off the ground and narrowly missing her as she ducked outta the way, landing on the floor.

"'ere 'ittle 'hicky 'hicky..." He taunted with a sinister grin, walking slowly over to her as Komaru backed away in fear.

It was only now that she remembered the hacking gun in her hands. With nothing else to do for the time being, the only logical sense she could decide was shooting out a blue blast of energy straight into the chest of the surprised chef. On the up side, it came into direct contact! On the down side, it didn't so much as tickle the chuckling chef as he poked where she hit him.

"'irl, youse 'ot 'ocks for b'ains! 'ose 'uns o'ly 'ood for mo'okumas!" He yelled in fury again as he lunged at her. It was much like the first bear that attacked her in the apartment. She didn't have enough time from this position to roll out of the way, he was far too close! It only came from heaven's mercy that his attack was blocked by the table she suddenly backed under, catching his cleaver in place as he grumbled in anger. He tried putting his right foot on the table to help him pull it out easier, leaving his left foot entirely exposed.

Fortunately for Komaru heaven didn't seem to be done assisting her as her hands brushed against something sharp. It was the only means she had to defend herself at this moment, and she wasted no time in doing so.

 ***shnk***

"OWOWOWOWOWOOWW!" He screamed in agony as he grasped his left foot, falling to the ground. Komaru only crawled out of the way before, tears still rolling down her face as she dared not look back. "Yose 'amn 'irl, youse 'tabbe' mah 'oot!" The chef called out in anger, clutching his bleeding left foot in agony. He didn't think she had it in her, much less did she even know it was near her, but her quick thinking may have been the only thing to buy her enough time by stabbing the chef straight through his shoe with the surprisingly sharp knife. She didn't hesitate to leave the cannibal chef to his bleeding fate, too horrified with him and herself for what he got her to do.

All she could do was run. Run through the back exit and just escape from the twisted diner where the meal of the day is apparently fresh human, with a side of lettuce.

She didn't even know what she could do at this point. The man she was supposed to meet was dead, hopefully not swirling in her stomach still after she emptied her morning breakfast, and she had no idea where to go in this city that she could see literally burning down and getting torn apart before her. All she could do was run and keep on running till she couldn't run further.

Was this it for her? Was there really nowhere else to go? She had the hacking gun, maybe if worse comes to worse, she could just fight her way out of the city. That strange psychopath did state how those guns only worked on Monokuma, and seeing how he believed he was capable of killing her at the time, she doubted he was doing anything to purposely lie to her. There would be no benefit to it.

Which left her to now. Just her, her running legs, her tearing eyes, and a city full of murderous machines and children.

 ***chakk-chackk-chak-chak, chak-a-chak-akk-chk-chk-chk***

"Ngh...Huh!" Komaru gasped in shock, for the first time this morning for joy. Or at least the closest thing to it.

Up ahead at the nearby park, she could hear and see a helicopter, one that was either ready for take off, or one that was just landing here. Wasting no time to take her only exit out of the city, she bolted as fast as she could to the flying machine, spotting several people similarly dressed like the Future Foundation people that were with Yamada when they saved her.

"Hey!" She called out grabbing the attention of the five members. She panted trying to catch her breath for a brief minute, exhausted with the nonstop running she went through since her encounter with the chef. "Are you...huff...Are you people with the Future Foundation?" A man and a woman looked at each other questionably as if having no idea what she meant or whether to answer. "A guy named Yamada Hifume...He said he was from the Future Foundation and you guys could rescue me."

"Ngh!" The man gasped to himself silently before looking over to the woman once more. Receiving a nod of approval from her, the man finally spoke, "What is your name?"

"K-Komaru," she paused briefly to wipe the sweat from her eyes, "It's Komaru Naegi." The answer seemed to draw the attention of the other two members as they joined in on the group.

"Looks like our information about a Captive in this town was correct." The woman said, who will be referred to as Member D, analyzing the data from a touchscreen pad.

"So, where is Hifume Yamada? Is he safe?" The second man to her right asked, Member E.

"H-He told me to run, so I... I haven't seen him since..." Komaru fretted.

"I see..." Member D spoke up again, pocketing her touchscreen once more. "I can't reach him, so I thought he might be in danger...But then again, this is Hifume Yamada we're talking about. I can't say I approve of his learning methods, but the guy is very resourceful. I'm sure he can handle himself..."

"B-But, there was someone from the Future Foundation, back in the restaurant-!" The memory of her last meal caused a gurgle to emanate from her stomach, covering her mouth to hold back her leftovers. "O-Oh god...T-That chef he...he..." Komaru shook her teary head trying to forget about the whole ordeal.

"Chef?" Member E asked. Komaru noticed how the several members were all exchanging questionable glances at one another. "Did this chef...Were the Monokumas attacking him too?"

"Huh?" It was the only pleasant memory Komaru's had for the entire day, recalling how all those murderous machines completely ignored her. "N-Now that I think about it, n-no...H-He told...He told them to get out of his diner, and they ran right by me...I thought they were gonna kill me..."

"Jesus Christ..." The man muttered to himself, quickly pulling out a cell phone with no hesitation of dialing it. "Hey, we found another remnant, it's over by the Diner where we were supposed to rendezvous, I repeat, we found another remnant." Those were all the words Komaru could hear him say as he ran towards the horrifying diner she just escaped from.

"F-Found one? Remnant? What are you talking about?" It was almost fascinating how the newest people she met throughout the day were giving her more questions than answers about her situation. "Um... What exactly is going on here? I still have no idea what's happening...I don't know who you are, or where I am, or anything..."

'I see... Well, we don't have much time, so I'll give you the short version." Member C, the man on the woman's right, said. "First thing's first though," he paused pulling out his own device, "have you seen this girl before?" He asked showing the familiar face.

Once again Komaru was met with disbelief. Whatever these people were, they had the exact same image of her sister that she saw on TV a few minutes ago. And like that one, this one was also wearing a similar-looking outfit like the woman before her, granted for a more suitable size. "O-Of course I do, that's my sister, Makoto Naegi!"

"Have you seen your sister at any given time in the last two months?" He quickly asked, not giving her even a second of peace.

"N-No, why would I?" The look he was exchanging with the other two made her uneasy, but at the same time more curious. What was going on here, and why was her sister involved in everything.

"First off, we're from an organization called the Future Foundation. We're trying to help the world recover from the incident. You know what I'm referring to?"

"Incident..." Komaru repeated in a questionable tone. She had some idea it might relate to what's going on around here, but if they were sent to assist in this matter so quickly, then there's no way it could relate to what is currently happening.

"It's behind your imprisonment." The third member, B, explained. "The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History. It was more than just an incident... It shook the foundations of society to the core...And it wasn't just one. Various incidents broke out all over the world. And then, the war... The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History includes that, too. Because of all this, the world just crumbled... But, in all that chaos... Future Foundation is trying the best we can to bring hope back to this world."

"Oh, and as for this town..." Member C added.

"..." Komaru just stood there agape with her mouth open. She couldn't believe any of this, into a single word. Even after all the horrible events she's witnessed up to this point, the disturbing sights before her eyes, the idea that the entire world had come to an end during her imprisonment was still too far to believe.

"Are you alright? Are you following?" Member D asked.

"Ah, y-yeah... It's just a lot to take in, that's all. It's... hard to hear."

"I'm sorry, but you need to know." Member B apologized. "This town is an island off the coast, and controlled by a powerful IT corporation. It's commonly called Towa City. Towa City used to be a nickname, but now, it's what everyone calls it."

"Ever since the government stopped functioning, due to The Tragedy, " Member C continued, "Towa Group and their cutting-edge technology are running the show here."

"Towa Group is a corporation that played a huge part in rebuilding the world." The woman commented. "Ever since The Tragedy, air pollution has made a lot of the planet uninhabitable. But Towa Group created an air purifier that can clean massive quantities of air at a time. They invented it only three months after the safety order to stay indoors was given. Even after all this time, people all over the world are still clamoring for it."

"But the clean air isn't the only thing that draws people to this town." Member B looked around as he spoke. "Because of Towa Group's influence, this city has suffered far less damage than others."

"Because it's relatively unaffected by The Incident," the woman said as she examined her touchscreen once more, "it's of special interest to us."

"But this kind of riot in Towa City..." A look of concern crossed the C member's face. "This is something we never anticipated..."

"So it's a riot?" Komaru asked to clarify. "Why is something like this happening?"

"Honestly, even we have no clue whatsoever as to what's happening here." B regretted to inform. For such a powerful group with the ideals of fighting against despair, even he couldn't help but be ashamed the Future Foundation wasn't on top of this information. "Where those Monokumas came from, why they're attacking the city...And that broadcast by those creepy kids, none of it makes any sense at all...Especially with... her... still being alive..."

"Her..." Komaru thought back briefly to the woman she saw along with those kids. "You mean that high school student with the pink hair, right?" She was sure that was the correct answer given the simultaneous attentive stare they all shot at her.

"Do you know who this woman is?" The woman asked as she handed Komaru the touchscreen again. This time it was displaying an image of the fashion model Komaru and her sister knew.

"Y-Yeah, that's Junko Enoshima, she was on the cover of numerous fashion magazines my sister and I read."

"What you're looking at, is a ghost."

"Huh?" Komaru raised a brow at the questionable term. "What do you mean a ghost?" It was a little unsettling seeing the uneasy glances the members gave one another, but she needed to know what was happening.

"About six months back, the girl you're looking at died." Komaru flinched at the B member's statement. "Junko Enoshima was really the Ultimate Despair, the one who started The Incident several years ago." To say Komaru's disbelief stopped growing would be a complete lie. They wanted her to believe that a fashion model, a kindhearted one she and her sister read about numerous times, was singlehandedly responsible for bringing the end of the world?!

"She was the one who brought despair onto the world itself, creating worldwide panic and chaos everywhere." D continued. "And to ensure everyone else still alive would fall under more despair, she broadcasted a Mutual Killing Game live on TV, spreading her despair further across the reaches of the globe."

"But as fate would have it, hope was reborn." The D member woman said with a small smile. "Your sister and several other students were the survivors of the massive Killing Game orchestrated by her, but your sister defeated her by the end of it."

"N-Naegi?" Now there was no telling how Komaru could take this. Not only was one of their longtime idols some sinister villain that ended the world, but they expected her to believe Naegi actually defeated her in the end? Naegi had a hard enough time trying to make friends due to her shyness and personality, let alone handle an argument for more than five minutes with a complete stranger. Then again, seeing how it's been nearly two years since Komaru last saw her, and if the world really did come to an end, she must've adapted to her surroundings over time.

She just didn't know it was only under technically-two months.

"That's right. She survived Junko's final trial, and by the end of it all Junko executed herself as punishment." She nodded as her smile faded once more. "After she escaped, we rescued her and her friends, and recruited them into the Future Foundation."

"But around three months ago, we received a video message showing Junko Enoshima was still alive." C added rubbing his chin. "We were baffled at how it was possible, we actually examined what was left of her remains when your sister was rescued."

"H-Her remains...?" This was one of those timely bits of Komaru's life where she didn't even know if she wanted to know.

"There was no way she was still alive after the autopsy, yet three months later she reappeared."

"At least over the video message." The C member clarified. "Not only did she assure us it was really her, but she declared war on the Future Foundation following her return."

"B-But what does this have to do with my sister...?" There was a brief silence once more as the woman took the touchscreen back.

"That's... Part of the problem." She frowned. "About two weeks after the video message, your sister went missing completely from the Future Foundation." Komaru's heart hastened a little as she heard this. Her sister was not only missing, but disappeared entirely from the Future Foundation? How was she expected to believe that? Then again, over 90% of the things she witnessed today she couldn't believe, so she started reaching that point where anything was possible. "We don't have full details on where she went or why she disappeared, but we do believe we know who her abductor was." The woman said, handing Komaru back the touchscreen.

Now it was displaying a girl she had never seen before. She had relatively soft violet eyes with bobbed black hair, the bangs of it stretching down almost to her chin. She also had very faint but noticeable freckles across the bridge of her nose, though were hard to see unless you looked close enough at every detail. She also didn't look that much older than her sister, seeming to be another high school student, despite the obvious difference in height she had just by looking at her.

"W-Who's this girl?" Komaru asked curiously.

"Her name is Mukuro Ikusaba, and we believe she was the one behind your sister's disappearance." The woman stated firmly, to Komaru's surprise. This girl was the one who kidnapped her sister? What reason did she have for it? She almost regretted that line of thinking as the woman continued explaining. "She's also the older twin sister of Junko Enoshima, as well as another member of Ultimate Despair."

"W-What?" She was Junko's older sister? Junko even had a sister? She's never once heard of these details in any magazine or article she's read about her, even the news never mentioned these details in gossip magazines. "S-She kidnapped my sister?"

"It's our fault, honestly." C regretted to inform. "When we rescued your sister, she was among the group of survivors we found. We attempted to remove her as a threat but..."

"But your sister interfered." D continued. "When we wanted to recruit them, your sister's only condition was that Ikusaba was to be a member too, or at least not harmed in any way and taken in. Thankfully we never gave her membership status yet which could've put our security detail in jeopardy, but even with this she still managed to abduct Naegi."

"So... She was still working with Junko or whoever?" Komaru assumed.

"To our understanding, yes. We didn't stop keeping tabs on this Ikusaba, either. We kept her under close supervision given her unsteady behavior and required her to attend at least two therapy sessions every other day. We actually thought she was staying well under control of her emotions and psyche given the circumstances, but you can already guess how that went."

"We didn't even know she was in this city until about a week ago when we received intel of her whereabouts from an unknown source. Not only that, but they said you were in the city too, so we came here in the hopes of rescuing one of, if not, both of you at once. At least given your sudden appearance, we can say which of those two it was referring to now."

"A-And you think Naegi's in the city too, right?" Komaru asked.

"To be honest," C replied, "we thought she might've been in an entirely different location at first, but the intel was too promising to shrug off. But after the video announcement of the Bonus Game, we're positive she's still somewhere in the city."

It almost gave Komaru goosebumps remembering the fear she witnessed from watching that video. Seeing a police officer being killed before her eyes, the seemingly cute and innocent children playing with the corpses of officer and announcer from the TV broadcast, and the fashionista Junko herself stating how they declared war on the adults of this city to make it a Utopia for children. Even the last portion of that broadcast, regardless of however brief, was still burned into her mind like a nightmare...

...

...

 _"I thought all demons were ugly, big sis?" The green girl commented curiously as she looked up._

 _"Hmhmhm, good point." Junko chuckled as she patted her head. "Anyway, as some of you may have guessed, any of them with an X over them has already been dealt with, so there's no point getting them or trying to catch them dead or alive. However, to anyone who manages to bring one to a Monokuma or child of the city, and if they like you enough, they may let you out of the game and out of the city altogether, and more importantly, alive!"_

 ** _*click*_**

 _"Huh!" Komaru's jaw dropped along with the hacking gun in her hands as everything became still._

 _There was no way for her could believe it, she didn't even want to believe it! But given every single thing she's heard up to this point, every detail she was aware of up till now, there's no way this one could possibly be fake. Being the last image shown before them, there she saw it- a picture of her own sister, Makoto Naegi, labeled as one of the many demons displayed on the television. Much to her relief the lack of an X over it indicated she was still alive, thank god. However, as if sensing the slightest trickle of hope emanating from every viewer watching this, Junko continued._

 _"And before you, is the ugliest, filthiest, dirtiest demon known to mankind, and one who's free game when hunting." Junko said with a wide smile. "The conditions for her aren't necessary or wanted by any of the Monokuma's whatsoever. The only condition is: You better bring her in dead..."_

...

...

Given all the details she's heard up to this point, everything did make sense. Junko somehow survived whatever execution or punishment they were talking about, and was mad at Naegi for ruining whatever plans she had behind the Mutual Killing Game. So to ensure the perfect revenge, she somehow had Naegi abducted, by Junko's own sister Mukuro Ikusaba no less, and taken to Towa City where she's been held prisoner for all this time, and regardless of whether she somehow escaped or Junko threw her out and forced her to take part of this game, is running around the city being hunted by the Monokumas and possibly people who want to get out of this game badly enough to want to kill her.

She didn't know it at this point, but this was Junko's interpretation of the perfect revenge. It would've been one thing to just abduct and kill her, but no. When she wanted revenge, she was going to do so in a way that made everything all the more satisfying. And what better way to do that than force her sister into another game and televise the situation to ensure everyone would feel the greatest of despair when Junko finally beats her once and for all!

It was a rematch. This entire fiasco was nothing more than a rematch of Despair vs Hope, one that Junko wanted in order to "correct" the loss of her last game.

"T-There's still...one thing I don't get." Komaru spoke up once more. "If you kept an eye on her sister so much, how did she pull off kidnapping Naegi?"

"That's the piece we've been working on since her disappearance." The woman said, rubbing her chin in thought. "With all the tabs we've kept on her, it was near impossible for her to pull something off on her own. On top of that, it also doesn't explain how we received the video message out of nowhere either. The only conclusion we came to for the time being was that she must've been working with the Remnants of Despair the entire time."

"That...That reminds me," Komaru remembered, "you mentioned Remnants before, right? What are-"

"I hate to interrupt, but we should probably put the conversation on hold until after we escape." Komaru blinked to herself at the realization. Given all these details about her sister, Junko, and this mysterious abductor, she almost completely forgot about the fact that she came here to escape, not socialize on whatever popular Kidnapping Dramas they were explaining.

"Y-You're right..." Komaru nodded in agreement. "We need to hurry up and escape, we'd probably get killed in a place like this...And I'm...I mean... I want to see my family again...A-And I want to save Naegi first too, b-but..." She was trembling. She's never felt so torn between the overwhelming fear that enveloped her, and her love and concern she had for wanting to save her sister again.

"It's alright," the woman said with a calm smile patting her shoulder, "when we get out of here we're going to come back with a lot of reinforcements. I promise we'll save everyone we can, including Naegi." Her words were very encouraging in these dark times, in this hopeless present. Yet, Komaru smiled warmly all the same. She wasn't abandoning her sister, she knew that for a fact. They were just going to get more prepared and come back with a way to save not just herself, but the entire city. That way everyone, not just Naegi, would be safe and secure from this horrifying nightmare.

"That reminds me...About your family..." The man on the woman's left began to speak.

"Hold it," the woman quickly interrupted, scanning the surroundings once more, "what was that?...Do you hear that?" Komaru and the other two members looked around a bit, noticing the eerie silence filling their surroundings. With so much going on, it was impossible to feel calm in a place like this.

"...erilly...eed adul..." The steady sound of childish singing slowly began to grow louder.

"Is that...singing?" Komaru wondered looking around the playground.

"...undred corpses? Let's have a competition."

"Over there!" The B member suddenly shouted pointing to his left.

Looking across the playground, all their eyes were met with the strangest of kids seen today. Even as the surrounding singing became louder, that didn't distract from his appearance. He seemed to be a regular, average, boy, possibly around the age of 8 given his height. He looked like he was wearing what was just a standard elementary school uniform consisting of a blue vest with an A symbol on the right shoulder of it, and a white buttoned shirt underneath with sleeves stretching down to his beige short pants.

What caught their attention though was the bizarre helmet he was wearing. It looked just like a Monokuma's, granted with some noticeable differences. For starters, there was a solid red line splitting it right down the middle, separating the right side of his white face with the other one. Unlike the other Monokumas however, this one didn't have a black half to his face, but a dark red one, red like pools of blood that were splashed together to form the dark creepy imagery of his mask.

At least it would've if blood was red, but who's ever heard of red blood and not pink blood...

Yet out of all of this, that wasn't even the surprising part about his appearance. The surprising part was just that- his appearance! What was he doing here of all places with all the riots going on around? Where were his parents? For that matter, even if his parents were killed in the riots, why was this kid just sitting casually atop a plastic side with all this violence going on?

"A kid?" It was hard for Komaru to keep her composure, the unease settling in even further as the singing became louder.

Then they saw it. Not one, two, nor three, but four Monokuma sprouted up from behind the slide next to the kid, the fourth one holding the corpse of a what appeared to be a Future Foundation member, possibly the same one that left for the diner. Also unlike the Monokumas she came across up to now, these appeared more beastly than the ones she previously encountered, these standing on all fours like an actual bear.

"Get back!" The B member warned leaping in front of Komaru. His heroic blocking was short lived yet still invaluable as one of the several Monokumas suddenly attacked him, tackling him past Komaru as it gorged it's teeth into his flesh. Komaru could only look on in horror, paralyzed with the unrelenting fear and despair spreading through her veins once more. If the horrific sight wasn't enough to make her waver, it was the bloodcurdling screams of agony the man let out that truly drove her to horror.

"C'mon, this way!" The other man quickly warned, leading her to the helicopter. It was the only sense of clarity Komaru's mind could register at that moment. Get to the helicopter, get to safety. That was as simple to understand as she needed.

The man himself wasted no time helping her into it, pushing her through the doorway as soon as she got even one foot on the flying machine. Unfortunately his quick assistance would prove useless in his own escape as not two seconds after Komaru looked back, the man was tackled across the entrance, pushing him away to his untimely death by another Monokuma.

The only thing Komaru could focus on was shutting the helicopter door as fast as possible, throwing herself to the side of it as she cried while closing the metallic doors with all her might. Barely a foot away from it's full closure did another Monokuma paw squeeze it's way through the entrance, trying to gain some literal foothold within the copter before Komaru could close it. Still, like all other things, Komaru adapted. She wasted no time quickly kicking at the black metallic paw as it growled with rage until it was finally out of the vehicle once more, closing the door with utmost haste.

It was then that Komaru collapsed to her knees. She was safe. Everything was going to be perfectly fine. The door was locked, she was inside the helicopter, and it would take her away to somewhere safer. Then, after a bit of rest and getting whatever help she needed, she would come back to the city, find her sister and the rest of her family, then they would all live happily ever after like a fairytale or a children's book.

But it was only then that fate dawned on her, hearing some mechanical noise near the cockpit. This wasn't a children's story, this wasn't anything close to a fairytale. This was reality. A reality where people really died, and happy endings were almost never present. And it was the lone Monokuma, the one hammering away and toying with the flying mechanics of this contraption, that reminded her of that. All she could do was let out a pleading cry as the Monokuma pulled back on the throttle, lifting the machine into the sky once more to a despair worse than before.

"No, waiiiiiiiiiiit!"

 _The sudden blackness of the scene was brought into detail as two hands pressed against the glass window of the helicopter, Komaru's panicked face slowly revealing in the darkness as the light cleared up once more. This wasn't happening was the one thing she got tired of telling herself. She didn't want this to happen, she refused to believe it was happening, but it was happening one way or another no matter how much she begged. The only thing she could do at that point was plead for another miracle to rescue her as they flew over the very city itself._

 _There was nothing she could do in this situation that would ensure her survival. If she tried to exit the vehicle, she would plummet to her death. If she tried to fight the Monokuma barehanded, it would rip her to shreds. And if she tried shooting at it with her hacking gun, she was just as likely to hit the control console, ruining the plane itself and hurtling them through the sky until they crashed. Even on the cosmically impossible chance she somehow managed to outmatch the Monokuma with her bare hands, somehow managed to summon some sort of inner strength to rip the creature itself apart, she was still at a loss. She had no idea how to fly this thing! Even if she got it on autopilot, another impossibility since the various switches made it hard to tell what did what, that would only leave her flying around in circles until her plane ran out of fuel!_

 _There was no hope for her. All she could do was sit back and endure the frightful ride until it was over, one way or another._

 ** _*clang*_**

 _And apparently it was going to be over faster than she expected, because the next thing she saw following this noise was the Monokuma with the broken steering throttle in its paws, poking it's chin innocently like a child who didn't know what they did just now. And like everything else, Komaru was left with no time to even ponder the scene before her as the plane suddenly turned harshly, sending her colliding to the left of the plane fast as it began to land out of control._

 _That in itself soon became a scene of Komaru suddenly being thrown to the very back of the plane, the gravity and force of the descent pinning her arms and legs to the wall as the plane shot straight down in a nose dive. Fear. Nothing but unrelenting fear filled Komaru's mind as they fell. Little by little, the vibrations of the plane steadily became worse, shaking little more with each passing second as gravity pulled their plane stronger with each shake. There was nothing to hold on to. She couldn't even hold herself in fright due to the force pushing her arms back against the plane. All she could do was wait. Wait for the inevitable death was that sure to claim her, the one that slowly absorbed her in a bright light as the plane finally crashed._

 _...And yet, that death never came. All that did was a pain that shot all throughout her body as she wa suddenly shot straight into the front wall of the plane behind the pilot seats. She didn't know if she passed out at that point or if she was going to because her vision was obscured by a darkening haze from the collision, one that she was struggling to resist. Her body hurt, everything hurt, yet she still pushed herself to the side of the plane where the door thankfully broke off from the impact, crawling through it until her body collapsed onto the ground heavily._

 _I need to get out of here... She screamed to herself. Despite the pain shooting through her, the fear that was consuming her, she still forced herself to pick herself up and move forward. Even if she couldn't feel her legs at the time, even though her heart was ready to give out at any moment, she pulled herself forward with her arms, crawling away from the wreckage of the plane in an attempt to stay alive. She was weak. She was terrified. She was living in hell. Yet every time she wanted to die on the spot, her body didn't listen to her. All it did was keep pushing herself forward._

 ** _*KA-BOOM!*_**

 _If her heart could burst through her chest, that would've been the time to do so as she heard the exhilarating and horrific explosion of the plane behind her. Maybe that's why her body kept pushing itself. It knew the plane was going to explode any second, and it needed to stand clear of the wreckage as far as it could take her. She began to understand that even if her mind was cut off from her body at that point, her body would still push her through whatever situation came over her._

 _At least that's what she told herself before a Monokuma stood before her. And then another. And then another. And then some more until dozens upon dozens of Monokuma surrounded her in one massive circle. It didn't even decide to end there either. The very rooftops along the streets, the many intersections and stoplights that stood above her, all of them were being swarmed by hundreds of Monokumas, each with that sinister smile, each with that round tummy, each and everyone one of them that could tear her apart in various gruesome fashions. She was too weak to lift her arms any higher. She was too exhausted to try running through them as far as her legs could carry._

 _From the exhaustion in her heart, and the cloudiness filling her mind, all she could do was succumb to the darkness as she finally last consciousness, never seeing what fate would befall her after this moment._

The air remained silent in that moment. All they did was continue to look at her as if having no idea what to do here. She was there, they were to kill adults, and yet none of them budged forward. All they did was clear a small path to her from the front side as a lone figure began walking forward, their face covered from the scenery. All that could be seen were the ragged clothes they were wearing, the chains hanging around their pants. And the lone hand calling from a cellphone that was covered in a leather, wooly, striped mitten.

*ring*

*ring*

*ring*

"Hey there, pal. Guess who I found?"

"Naegi?!"

"Oooooh, so close, but afraid not. I find her sis if you're interested."

"..."

"Oh c'moooon, you must be a little excited to meet her sister, right?"

"Just tell me where she is."

"Oh she's right before me. But I think I'll take her back to HQ first, she seems pretty beat up, probably get her some rest before-"

"I MEAN WHERE'S NAEGI!"

"Hey, easy easy, she's around...I think...I'll be honest I haven't seen her in the last week alone, your sister's been busting my butt with all these chores and preparations."

"...She's not my sister..."

"Right, right, and you're not a traitor." There was a brief unsteady silence as the figure watched two Monokumas beginning to drag Komaru away, following them. "You know, I really have to know. What do you hope to gain outta this?"

"..."

"From what I last heard from Naegi herself, you two seemed to have gotten in a pretty big fight. Well, three of you if you count that Principal's girl, what was her name...Kyo- something something. What did you do to make Naegi so mad at the two of you?"

"That's none of your business..."

"Oh come on now. I know I'm just a a cockroach compared to the rest of you, but you could share a little information at least." The returned silence was all he needed to hear. "Fine, fine, too personal, I get it. But you could at least tell me if I'm on the right path, riiiight?"

"You want to know what happened, I want to know about Naegi. So you first."

"Sorry, but Junko threatened to cut off my other pinkie if I give too many details again. Which makes me wonder which one since the first thing she cut off was my middle finger on my right hand..."

"Why did you bother calling me then if you don't have anything valuable or necessary?"

"I'm just letting you know how things are proceeding, you know for old time's sake."

"And...?" Whoever he was talking to, they knew him better than most. He never did things simply out of casualness.

"And just to see how you're holding up too. After all, the Future Foundation is hunting you too now from what I heard, and I doubt they'll be forgiving after what you've done."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Ok, ok, I get it, back off, right? Then at least let me say one more thing."

"What?"

"...Your family is coming for you-"

*click*

The figure just stared at the phone for a few seconds before chuckling to themselves, pocketing it once more.

"It doesn't matter. She'll be fine, they'll all be fine." The white-haired boy stared into the glistening sun with a grin. "Because by the time it's over, they'll finally realize how much stronger the power of hope truly is compared to despair...even if this entire city has to burn..."

...

...

...

 ** _A/N: And another fun chapter down the drain ^^ As you might've expected, some spoils in the game are going to be presented a bit early like the one above here- you needn't worry though for 3 reasons: one, i did this for anyone who knows and was reading my last fanfic too. 2, I only do it because I only spoil possibly miniscule spoilers as to the big hefty spoilers, so you'll never have to worry about those till towards the end like always. And 3, also due to the fact like my other fanfic, I add in some verily big surprises and plot twists, all of which will get revealed over time._**

 ** _So in a manner of speaking, I replace the old minor plot twists with more prominent and major ones- like the one in the last story with who the puppet master was for Junko's true reasoning for targeting Naegi.._**

 ** _And on another note, would like to remind everyone not to expect daily updates from this fic or even once every few days of updates. I do what I can but I got a job now and school at the same time, so managing this with my school work will be a bit tricky, especially since I need to replay the game for those "by-the-scene/word-for-word" parts (which I don't have to worry about as much since most of the stuff is going to be changed up like shown above, as well as some parts rewritten entirely). But i'll always do what I can when I can._**

 ** _So as always, leave a like, fave, and review to leave your thoughts and details. I am loving the feedback I got from the first chapter alone with it's comments and follows, those always help big time with getting the energy to write longer faster chapters and updates._**

 ** _Trust me guys, this is going to be one hell of a ride X)!_**

 ** _PS: If anyone finds the sound effect i used for the helicopter running weird, i apologize XP but due to the lack of known sound effects in the worded-world, i found a site to help with that since it'll be needed for a lot of action scenes..._**


	3. Face To Face With Despair

_**A/N: Not much to say here guys, although I will comment I recently watched a brief clip from DGR3, i think the past arc, but idk for sure. Anyway, the clip was phenomenal and hilarious at the same time- it showed Junko trying to kill ikusaba for like a minute while Ikusaba just casually sat there blocking everything including jugging a grenade out the door to another car XD I just found that extremely hilarious**_

 _ **Also fitting cause I don't think I was far off the spot then! Remember last fanfic when Junko explained her numerous times of "correcting ikusaba" and whatnot? Even without watching the dgr3 myself, apparently I wasn't that far off of it either... which really makes me question if thats both pretty cool or slightly creepy seeing my own work come to life...i pray to god they never make my lemon fic a reality or I swear to god I'll institutionalized for life T_T...ehehehehhheeeeeeeee...**_

 _ **Anyway, I thought I'd add some guidelines about other details. As you guys know, several portions of the game outside of "executions/punishments" in Another Episode, they use the creative paper-ish, however you wanna describe it, animation style like they do from the Danganronpa executions and all, right? So just to help with the imagination portion of things, any time you guys come across several large paragraphs of italics, unless it's usually Komaru's PoV bits of her speaking her mind like in the beginning of the game, those are usually pictured in the unique animation style.**_

 _ **Sorry if that sounds confusing, just thought it'd help with picturing the scenes and making it more fun ^^.**_

 _ **Anyway, onto the next episode ^^!...figuratively speaking...**_

...

...

...

 **Journal Entry #3:**

 **Dear Mr. D,**

 **I spent my first night having a sleepover with my new best friend! But in the middle of the night they woke up screaming having a nightmare about horrible monsters and other things that wanted to eat them. I assured them as long as I was around, I would make all the bad things in the world go away, and they wouldn't have to worry about a thing.**

 **Our friendship is going to last forever!**

...

...

...

"..."

"..."

"Hey..." Komaru began to hear a voice within the darkness surrounding her. "Can you hear me...? ... Are you okay?"

"...Ngh..." it was at this time consciousness slowly returned to Komaru, awakening after her devastating ordeal.

Many people couldn't claim they survived a full-fledged riot, especially one taking place within the city itself. Others couldn't state how they survived being in a helicopter crash that was piloted by a remote-controlled teddybear trying to kill everyone. And not many other people can say they escaped from an impending explosion seconds before it went off.

Yet, that's what brought Komaru here, or at least the last thing she remembered before being surrounded by hundreds of Monokuma at once.

Rising slowly from her slumber, she took in her surroundings slowly. Wherever she was, she was at least given a comfortable wakeup call with the soothing voice, and finding herself lying atop a comfortable red bed with soothing, soft, red pillows. It was nice and cushiony, especially compared to the rough hard cement she felt herself collapse upon before fainting. It was hard to make out what sort of room this was though she could assume she was a prisoner. The walls were obviously metallic with light-blue pillars extending from the corners of each room. Even the floors appeared to have some sort of metallic appearance to them despite the tiled design.

It was only during her observation that she finally gasped, seeing the figure that stood near the doorway.

"You look completely exhausted." He commented.

"W-Who...Who are you?" Komaru asked nervously. She didn't know if this was all some big dream she was having or if she was in the afterlife, seeing how the last sight before her were the murderous Monokumas.

"Me?... Well... My name's not really important." He replied. "After all... I'm just a lonely servant." He declared looking back to her.

It was then Komaru got a clear look of the boy before her. His outfit was rather strange to Komaru, even if this kid was trying to give some sort of twisted metal street goth-punk appearance. Firstly, he was wearing a cropped black jacket, with three pure white buttons on the right, and for some reason only one red one on the left. Under this he was wearing a dark-red and olive-green scoop-neck shirt, with long sleeves folded over the cuffs of his jacket.

For his lower attire, they seemed a bit more common for someone his age. They were plain, albeit worn out, rugged looking black jeans and black low heeled shoes. The only thing that brought out the color in them were the red shoe laces running through them. He couldn't count on the dirty-looking white color of his hair, or the light grey-green color of his eyes. Even his skin was pale in comparison to most people she's met, almost like he was sick.

That wasn't even the weird part of his outfit, at least to Komaru. For whatever reason on his left hand he wore a wool-knitted mitten that stretched halfway up his arm between his wrist and his elbow. But the weirder part was the long chain he had connected to collar he seemed to be wearing. It would've been one thing if it was only a few inches long, if even that, but the collar itself stretched nearly a foot past his waist, like he was some dog on a leash.

Given the fact he was calling himself "Servant" at this point, he probably was.

"I heard this town would be safe, so I came here to seek refuge. But then, the riots..." Servant trailed off with a sigh. "On top of that, I get captured by them. I seriously got no luck at all." Strangely this only brought a smile of relief to the boy's face. "But because I pleaded for my life, they allowed me to live... as their servant."

"Ah...u-um..." How was any girl supposed to take in what was going on before her? And if he was their servant, did that mean she was safe being in the same room as him?

"Ah, I'm being rude." He apologized. "Enough about me, let's talk about you. Either you truly are completely exhausted, or you're simply afraid to wake up and face reality." He made it sound so simple. Facing reality meant facing the harshness of the real world and everything it had to offer. What her reality was showing was nothing more than a nightmare that wouldn't end. "You were asleep for a full two days." He stated.

"A-A full two days!?" Komaru repeated in disbelief. Even in her most tied of states, she's never once been asleep for two days straight! The worst she's ever come to was sleeping well into an afternoon, but nothing like this!

"A full two days. More than enough time for the world to change completely. Yes, even our world can change that quickly. Like a watercolor painting caught in the rain. Ah, but you're more concerned about yourself than the world right now, or even your sister, correct?" Komaru lost her recent breath from that remark. Just how many people knew about her sister? "You're wondering what's to become of you, now that you're trapped here, in this place."

"M-My sister? You mean Naegi?" Komaru rose from her seat as she walked over to him a bit pleadingly. "Please, if you know anything about her, then please tell me!"

"Oh, you're concerned now?" He hinted slyly. "I thought you were just worried about escaping this city alive? I mean, you did choose to leave here instead of find her first, right?" She didn't know how to take this. She was more concerned about his words than the fact he knew the details behind them. It was like a nail stabbed into her heart with every utterance yet she couldn't deny the facts of the detail either.

"I-I was just scared...I s-still am..." She commented as she began shivering. "I never intended to leave her here, not f-forever. I just wanted to find help... I didn't even know she was still alive till an hour ago..."

"You mean an hour and two days, right?" Servant corrected. "Besides, is that really the truth? Would you have knowingly returned to this bloodied city, one where people are dying left and right, and searched for your sister? Or would you have waited until the help you found got to her first?"

His words were bringing tears to her eyes at the thought. She couldn't confirm or deny any of the possibilities he presented. She wanted out of this city, she wanted out of it so badly more than anything. She's seen people getting murdered, heard about the entire world outside Towa City came to an end, even learned that her sister was kidnapped by some girl who was supposed to be dead! A girl who had nothing more than a vendetta against Naegi after the loss she suffered at some Killing Game thing the Future Foundation described. She wanted to escape this city, the reality presented to her before all else! She just couldn't take it anymore!

That's why, she couldn't argue or disagree with anything he just said. She wouldn't believe it herself, but she has no idea how she would've felt if she went from a place of absolute horror to a place of absolute sanctuary, like the Future Foundation described. Would she be brave enough to come back just to find one person in a long lost city? She would search everywhere in the world, but the thought of returning to the one place she felt most threatened at made her tremble. If not for the fear of the city itself, then fear of not knowing if his words were true.

That alone made her cry silently.

"...Wh-What's going to happen to me?" She asked.

"...Huff..." Servant sighed, to Komaru's confusion.

"Huh?"

"Ah, apologies. Your reaction was so... normal... It surprised me a little." He commented. "Ahah, you honestly... don't have a single unique characteristic."

"U-Um..." She had no comeback for that comment. Was he just commenting about her or trying to insult her?

"Well, no need to be depressed about it. This world is filled with unremarkable people...And the only one capable of empathizing with common, boring people... is a common, boring person like yourself. You know, unlike your sister." He commented again.

"..."

"I even heard she used to be a student of Hope's Peak Academy. She was chosen as the Ultimate Luckster, right?"

"Huh?" Those were details even he shouldn't have known about. "How did... How do you know that?"

"Ah..." The Servant seemed to be caught off guard, chuckling to himself a few seconds after. "Heh heh, whoops, guess I let that one slip. Let's just say I heard some details during my two days as their servant, and keep it between us, yes?" There was a hint of warning behind his words that Komaru couldn't help ignore. He was revealing details he definitely wasn't supposed to and she didn't want to know what would happen to herself if she revealed it. "Anyway, that's why you pass."

"Wh-What are you talking about?"

"Well, that is just my personal opinion. It doesn't matter to them at all. Which means I'll need you to take a proper test." He declared.

"...A test?" If the sentence for getting captured by these Monokumas was some form of test or puzzle, she didn't know if she should expect something simple and plain or practically impossible.

"Ah, but before that, I'll return this to you..." He added before revealing the Hacking Gun to her.

-NEW TRUTH BULLET-

-BREAK-

-OBTAINED!-

"Th-The Hacking Gun!" Komaru gasped. She was surprised she was being handed something like this considering how useful it was against the Monokumas.

"I borrowed it from you without permission, sorry." He apologized again. "But I absolutely had to analyze its capabilities. It sure is an amazing little machine." He said with a smile. "A device that forcibly hacks machines by shooting program codes with electromagnetism...However, it was a bit... too powerful. I made a few modifications. For game balancing purposes."

"Game... balance?" She couldn't figure out what sort of game he was referring to. In all honesty, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"Oh, no need to worry. You'll have the opportunity to upgrade it later."

"U-Um... I have no idea what you're talking about..." In a way she was glad she didn't either. She already spent the good part of her morning, two days ago at least, fighting for her life. The last thing she wanted was to become player in a dark twisted tale where everyone wound up dead anyway.

"I understand how you feel, but...it's about time you started the test." He announced opening the doorway. "If you can safely make it all the way to where everyone is waiting, you pass."

"W-Where...everyone..." The Servant smiled mentally as he looked into her eyes. It wasn't anything powerful like Naegi's, but he saw a sparkle of hope ignite within them, combating the enshrouding darkness of despair taking hold of her. "I-Is my sister...Is Naegi there too!?"

"Maybe she is, maybe she isn't." He seemed regretful in having to say. "If I told you the answer, you'll just get me at me for lying...or maybe you won't, you never know. You'll just have to meet them when you get there. However, even after you meet everyone, be sure to keep that gun of yours a secret. If you don't want to die, that is." He warned as he walked through the doorway. He paused after passing through it to look back at her. "I'll be going on ahead. If it's any helpful incentive, if you want to reunite with Naegi again, you'll only do so by finishing this whole game the children have created." And upon his exit, the door closed up once more, sealing itself with metallic bars to lock all access in and out.

"Wh-What the heck...? What is going on now?" There were so many emotions swarming Komaru's mind at that moment. Fear, discord, sorrow, confusion, not a single one being helpful enough to push her forward. The only thing that told her to keep on going was the hope she had of reuniting with her sister once more, even if she had no idea where she was. And according to the Servant, the only way that was going to happen was by going through this so-called "test" of theirs, which first meant finding some way out of this locked room.

It was around this time that she finally noticed the package near her feet, a little bit away from where the Servant was left standing. She knew she couldn't break the door with the Hacking Gun alone, and she didn't want to risk being trapped in here forever if she tried the gun's current setting and accidentally broke the lock from shooting it, so unwrapping the gift seemed to be her best option.

As fortune would have it, her intuition paid off, even if it was a little confusing to look at. From the looks of it alone, this large package was all to contain some tiny little computer chip within it, She couldn't understand why a large box would be needed to contain something so massive unless it had something to do with the game the Servant referred to earlier. With nothing else to do she casually slipped in the computer chip to the gun, fidgeting with it for a few seconds until she found the right hole it required.

-NEW TRUTH BULLET-

-MOVE-

-OBTAINED-

Picking it up, upon closer inspection between it and the Hacking Gun, she finally noticed a small opening on the rotating dial of the chip, where several other chip-sized openings were located. Putting two and two together, she could assume this had to do with the modifications and upgrades the Servant was talking about earlier. From her understanding, the gun must've had several more capable opponents before the Servant got to it, and her only hope for finding more of them was continuing along with the game.

"Time to see if it works...' She muttered to herself, setting the mode to Move as she shot at the lock mechanism.

 ***beep***

"It's unlocked... but I'm still scared..." The cheerful beep gave her enough reason to mentally compared to everything else throughout the day. As it was designed to, the light flashed green once more as the barricades to the door were undone. Pushing past her unease and out the door, she only managed a few yards before coming across the first Monokuma between her and the kids.

"Ok..." She muttered to herself. She was nervous, frightened, and terrified, but she needed to push forward if she wanted to survive. "Just aim...and shoot." And with the first shot the gun released a small blob of energy, clonking on the Monokuma's head and dazing it. That didn't kill it as she was hoping, instead seeming to piss it off more than before as it ran towards her. "Aim and...shoot!" She repeated to herself once more, clonking it in the head again. She swallowed the buildup of saliva she felt growing as sweat poured down her face. She needed to keep telling herself this until it became natural. The only thing separating her and safety was surviving. The only emotion stronger than the fear residing in herself right now was the determination to see her sister again and get out of here alive with her.

And she wasn't ready to let these Monokuma things come between that. "Aim and...SHOOOOT!" She shouted once more, this time shooting it dead in the eye.

 ***BOOM!***

"Ah..." Komaru couldn't believe it. She destroyed one! "I did it..." She looked over the gun once more as she noticed numbers where the speaker portion of the megaphone would normally be. It read x32, which she could assume was referring to the bullets themselves, as well as a glowing circle around it that wasn't displayed before. Shrugging the image out of her mind, she pressed onward.

She spent the next several minutes exploring the hallways of this massive complex, hitting two dead ends during her exploration. Even though she could tell those were the end of the hallways, she at least wanted to see if she could find any more doors out of here or possibly her sister. She didn't know where she was at this moment, and despite the Servant's insistence, she preferred avoiding heading straight to the objective location, or at leas find some other means of help.

It was during this time she came across a intersection that trapped her here along with another Monokuma behind a wire-fence barricade like the ones at stores. Much like before she told herself what to do before shooting the Monokuma, but this time was met with a more surprising result. As opposed to last time where it took several hits to destroy the blasted machine, her shot ended up being more powerful with a stronger blob of energy, destroying it in one hit! She couldn't help but blink to herself in amazement before looking back to the hud, where the speaker-portion was, again. As she expected the number lowered by one but this time the glowing part of the bullet's name wasn't glowing anymore.

Seeing how she still had a good x31 shots she gave another practice shot to test her theory out. Sure enough, it was another simple small bolt of energy than before. While she couldn't figure out the exact mechanics to it she could at least understand if it was glowing it would empower her shot immensely. Figuring out how that worked would be the key to her survival.

That and using another shot of her Move bullet to undo the barricades.

Unfortunately, unlike the previous one, this didn't open all the wire-fences, only the one she came to and the one leading to the stars up. She gulped a bit to herself as she climbed, seeing the large double doors atop the stairs. If the fancy dooring wasn't a key indicator of her destination, the strange compass image on the floor beneath her definitely was. It was practically screaming "OPEN ME! OPEN ME!" to her. And despite her better judgement, she didn't have any choice in the matter whatsoever, pushing past her fear

She still wasn't ready for what greeted her.

There they stood, four of the infamous and self-proclaimed Warriors of Hope as seen on TV. From left to right, as she remembered them naming each other from the broadcast, there was Jataro, the brown leather-clad boy from head to toe, Masaru, the spiky red-haired boy with the headphones, shorts, and band-aid under his left eye, Nagisa, the calm, collected, and mature one of the group, and Kotoko, the pink-haired perky girl of the group. Together they were four of the five members of the Warriors of Hope, not counting the wheelchair-bound girl who she didn't see at the moment, or Junko who appeared to be empty from the scenery.

The room itself was rather massive in size, large scaled windows showing the blood red sky before the city. It was the perfect setting to find what may possibly be the scariest children Komaru has ever encountered.

"Y-You're those kids...kids who were on TV!" Komaru gasped, fear overwhelming her once more. She was thankful she stashed her gun on herself beforehand, not wanting to find out what would happen if the Servant's words would come true.

"Ha ha, we're famous..." Masaru said with a cheeky grin. "I'd autograph your back anytiiiime!"

"Hehehehe," Jataro chuckled creepily, "I can only write using a chisel. But if you don't mind that I can sign your back too..." It was the way he spoke, the calm composure and still voice, that terrified Komaru more than his actual words.

"We accept presents as well," Kotoko said, "I'm always in the mood for sweets. However, salty flavors are no good! Their disgusting taste are never worth putting in your mouth!"

"Mmh...I wanna drive a train someday..." Jataro began going off topic. "But if I can't, I wanna go inside a chimney..."

"..." Nagisa was the only one who continued to maintain his silence as he continued staring at Komaru, studying her very body. It was only at this time, as Komaru squeezed her fingers to calm herself, did the familiar sound of electrical wheels pick up once more. Sure enough, past the kids introducing themselves she saw the final member of the Warriors of Hope, slowly making her way to the front of the pack once more with the evergoing easy smile on her face.

"Welcome fellow sis, I'm so happy you came here, meow~!" She squeaked in an innocent voice.

And there it was. All five members of the Warriors of Hope, all five children who put together this bloodbath of a game possibly with Junko's help. All Komaru could do at this point was fiddle with her fingers to calm herself, trying to speak.

"Uh... um... uh..." She had no idea what to say. What were you supposed to say when greeting five psychotic children who wanted you dead?

"Oh, that's right. Fellow Sis doesn't know us yet." The mysterious green-haired girl remembered. "Well, I guess we should start with introductions!"

"Alright, let's start with me, the leader!" Masaru stated with pride, crossing his arms with excitement.

 _"I'm the super duper leader that unites the Warriors of Hope with a bang! Masaru Daimon! My special subject was P.E., so they called me Li'l Ultimate P.E.! I'm the P.E. King who can do every exercise ever! Running nonstop 24/7/365 is as easy as pie! Oh, I almost forgot! My job in the Warriors of Hope is the Hero! And as Hero and the leader, I'm gonna be the new ruler of this town!"_

"I'm the leader of the Warriors of Hope! Hero Class, Masaru Daimon!" He continued. "I always give 100 percent! My favorite class is Gym, so they called me Li'l Ultimate P.E.! Aha! A Hero, the leader, and the Li'l Ultimate P.E.! I even impress myself!"

"Hmph, you're far too boastful to be a leader." Nagisa said rolling his eyes. "A true leader is calm and dignified.

"But I am the leader! We all agreed on it!" Masaru grumbled puffing his cheeks.

"All he did was win Rock-Paper-Scissors..." Kotoko rolled her eyes with a chuckle.

"Doesn't matter!" Masaru started pouting, pounding his foot. "I'm still the leader! I won so I'm the leader! Even big Sis said so, so I'm the leader! The leadeeer!"

"Fine fine. You're the leader." Nagisa groaned with annoyance. "Now allow me to introduce myself. I am the Sage, Nagisa Shingetsu. I am the vice leader, of sorts."

 _"My name is Nagisa Shingetsu. In the Warriors of Hope, I act as the vice leader and Sage. When I attended elementary school, I was known as Li'l Ultimate Social Studies. Of course, Social Studies is but one area of my expertise. I excel at all scholarly pursuits. I was labeled Li'l Ultimate Social Studies because I was raised to be among society's elite. And... I suppose I am a babysitter of sorts for the Warriors of Hope when big Sis isn't around...Monaca excluded."_

"During my time at Hope's Peak Elementary, I was known as Li'l Ultimate Social Studies."

"Huh? Hope's Peak?" Komaru wondered. "...You mean...that Hope's Peak!?" She wondered to herself it it could truly be the same one her sister attended.

"Hm? Why should that surprise you?" He asked raising a brow.

"I... I didn't know there was an elementary school affiliated with the academy..."

"Hmph. Such an ignorant woman." Nagisa scoffed. "Anyway,.. Who's next? Perhaps Jataro?"

"Ah, wait." Jataro replied. "Before I go, can I practice introducing myself? Um... What was I gonna say...? Uh I'm the Priest, Jataro Kemuri..."

 _"You know how when you stare into a movie bicycle spokes, you get all scared? Like, for some reason, you imagine how painful it would be to put your hand in... Oh, um, my name is Jataro Kemuri. And bird skin isn't yummy no matter how you cook it. I was really good at arts and crafts, so they called me Li'l Ultimate Art. If it's arts and crafts, leave it to me. I can remove nails, and varnish, and things... I do the Priest thing for the Warriors of Hope... Oh, and also, I wonder if aliens exist."_

"And you specialized in arts and crafts, making you Li'l Ultimate Art, correct?" Nagisa quickly added. "Moving on..."

"Awww..." Jataro cried as his eyes watered. "You said what I was gonna say... The whole thiiing... Ugh... My chest itches... I wish I could scratch it raw, reach inside and scrape my nails on it..."

"Your speeches are always too long..." Kotoko replied as she waled passed him. "It's like how an elephant's nose is so long... But then again, giraffe necks are so long too... And also, waiting for a plane takes too long, and Spring Break is too long... "

"U-Um..." Komaru didn't know what to say, and for once not out of fear. She had no idea how to talk back to these children who appeared to have a hard enough time just explaining their own backstories.

"Well, anyway," Kotoko continued, "don't worry about Jataro. He's a latchkey kid. It made him a bit mental. It's not that I dislike latchkey kids, though. Some kids say they have magical powers! Isn't that awesome?" Kotoko's eyes began to sparkle as she blushed. "You might get caught inside a magical parallel universe! Oh, sorry for the late introduction. My name's Kotoko Utsugi, and I play the role of Fighter."

 _"Ahoy! A girl! My name is Kotoko Utsugi, and I play the Fighter in the Warriors of Hope! You might think the Fighter would be a boy, but nope! I'm totally a girl! I love girly things and peeled chestnuts! If it's totally adorbs, I looove it! And I was pampered as the Li'l Ultimate Drama in elementary school. But who cares about that old stuff? I'm so happy to meet you!"_

"I was called Li'l Ultimate Drama, but that was a long time ago, so I'll leave that part out. My favorite food is peeled chestnuts. My least favorite food is unpeeled chestnuts. Kyahaa!" Kotoko sparkled once more. "Aren't you surprised? They're both chestnuts!"

"Uh... um... uh..." It was becoming harder to say anything as time went on. She doesn't even know if anything she could say at this point would get their attention.

"And hey, did you know!?" Kotoko continued with excitement. "Kangaroos can jump backwards! And, and! And believe it or not, snakes have ears! Ewww!" Even with that she continued to giggle with excitement.

"Yes, yes, that's all very nice." Nagisa mumbled trying to move on. "Our next introduction is Monaca."

"Okies!" Monaca replied sweetly as she waved to Komaru. The teen could feel her heart speed up as Monaca wheeled herself over to Komaru, stopping only three feet ahead of her so she could look directly in her eyes. "Monaca is a Mage."

 _"Monaca is called Monaca! Monaca is a Mage in the Warriors of Hope. I was known as Li'l Ultimate Homeroom while I was in elementary school. You might think there are no Ultimates and Commons in a class like Homeroom, but there are! For me, my skill isn't really about uniting people, it's about getting them all to help me! Believe it or not, I bring together a lot of wonderful people... It would be nice if you could be a wonderful person for Monaca, too..._

"And when I attended elementary school, I was called the Li'l Ultimate Homeroom. I'm sure you're familiar with it, right?" Monaca asked curiously, bobbing her head side to side as she poked her chin. "Monaca just loves Homeroom! The first hour of the day when we can share our thoughts... And that is why, even in the Warriors of Hope, I'm the life of the party! Ah, but... You are familiar with the Warriors of Hope?"

"N-No..." Komaru replied nervously.

"The Warriors of Hope are heroes who save the world from Demons." Kotoko explained. "Isn't that amazing?"

"We're a party of heroes wtht hunt down Demons..." Jataro muttered. "But nobody really wants me in the group..."

"And, I'm the party leader! Which makes me the number one king of this town!" Masaru claimed proudly.

"U-Um... You... You kids are just joking, right? With demons and kings..." It could be argued that Komaru spoke out of denial, but who wouldn't in this situation? These claims were all coming from mere children who wanted to make a paradise for kids all over! That was a dream every kid had around that age, usually with less slaughtering of the masses though.

"Joking...around?" Nagisa asked sternly. The silence that filled the room pulled on Komaru's worries. She just said something she knew she was going to regret.

"I mean you guys are just kids, right?" Komaru gulped before asking. "For a bunch of kids to be doing this kind of stuff..."

"Just kids..." Nagisa repeated sternly. This wasn't going to end well.

"Huh?" The color began draining from Komaru's face.

"Awww..." Kotoko cooed. "That's the only thing I can say, just "awww"...Since you're an About-to-Be, we were thinking... Well, doesn't matter. You're clearly a Demon." Kotoko declared.

"Adults, children..." Nagisa continued off. "The power structure remains the same. The subjects have merely been switched. With our Monokumas, you'll be nothing more than a squashed bug beneath our feet."

"Splattered like the sound of bloody chopped meat," Jataro laughed manically, "intestines falling out of you like sausages..."

"Oh stop that, Jataro!" The perky girl warned. "If you say it like that, she'll think we're joking."

"Huh? Our Monokumas?" Here she was hoping for answers. Only now did Komaru regret getting them. "So the ones controlling those Monokumas out there are..."

"That's right!" The leader confirmed gesturing to her. "Isn't it so cool!? The Monokumas obey any order we give 'em!"

"All thanks to Monaca's magic." Nagia added with twisted glee.

"Yeah, that's our Mage! She can use magic even without magic circles!"

Monaca smiled as she turned her chair back to her friends. "Hehehe, thank you everyone, you're so nice!"

"Kyaaa!" Kotoko gushed. "Monaca's smile is sooo adorbs! Oh, I just wanna smother you in syrup and eat you uuup!"

"N-No! Komaru yelled. "Stop it! Stop!"

"Stooooop?" If she could see through the mask, Komaru would've seen the confused expression on his face. "Which part?"

"If what you're saying is true, please, stop all of this!" Komaru begged as she sweated.

"We will not," The vice leader replied shaking his head. "We will never stop until we've completed our paradise..."

"Paradise?" They used the word before, but after witnessing these kids in person Komaru questioned the morality behind it.

"Oh?" Monaca wheeled back to her once more with a curious look. "You didn't hear our address? A paradise made of children, by children, for children!"

"We're gonna kill all the adults in this town and make a paradise just for kids!" The leader raised his fist in triumph. "Isn't it awesome!? No school or homework in paradise, woo hoo!"

"Why must fireflies die so young..." Jataro found his way off track.

"And since our paradise is for children only, there won't be any more pedophiles, either!" Kotoko added.

"But can we keep the ice cream store? The ice cream store didn't do anything wrong..."

"Wh-What are you saying!? What're you talking about...? It doesn't make any sense!" Komaru shook her head in frustration. This wasn't a nightmare. A nightmare was something that was terrifying and horrific, but you could always wake up from it. Neither was this Hell. She recognized these kids before the crash so she knew she was still alive.

This was simply fear. Fear itself taking the form of these five children before her.

"Mmgh..." Monaca pouted buffing her cheeks. "It! Doesn't! Have to! Make! Any! Sense!" She flailed around as she whined. "That's! All! If! Monaca! Wants! It! It! Happens! That's! How! It! Is!" Komaru backed away slowly as the other Warriors of Hope gathered before her with worry.

"Uh-oh! Th-This is bad! Monaca's maaad!" Masaru fretted scratching his head. "Big Sis is gonna get mad if she finds Monaca crying again!

"I-It's going to be alright, Monaca!" Nagisa tried to calm down. "Please, don't get upset... It's all going according to plan!"

"That's right!" Jataro agreed nervously. "If Monaca says it, then white is black, cats are dogs, and, um... What else...? Ooooh if we get in trouble again, Big Sis won't hit me for a whole day!"

"Oh please, oh please don't get mad!" Kotoko begged too. "We'll kill a lot of adults, see? So just smile, okay?"

"Mmmmhmhmmhh!" Monaca grumbled to herself, shaking her head as her eyes began to water.

"Hey!" Masaru shouted angrily, stepping before Komaru. "How dare you make Monaca mad! That's the last straw! As the leader, I'm gonna hunt you down!"

"H-Hunt?" Komaru couldn't tell if these kids were serious about anything. For all she knew this was just some overblown game of theirs, yet the fear of it all made it feel too real.

"Let us play a game." Nagisa decided. "You will be our Demon prey."

"It's a reallyyy fun game," Jataro's eyes sparkled for the first time, "a godly game..."

"It was Monaca's idea, after all!" The pink one declared with pride.

"And the name of the game iiis..." Sadly, Masaru wouldn't get to finish that sentence.

"BIG SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!" Monaca cried loudly.

 _All at once, the atmosphere of the room shifted heavily as Komaru gasped silently for breath. It was as if a lifeless shadow washed over her as she felt an immense presence coming from behind her. There was no sound of their approach, no warning of their arrival, the only thing that came before it was Monaca's pleas for help. Even the Warriors of Hope's faces lost color as all ol them immediately scrambled to get behind Monaca, the only magical force strong enough to protect them from Big Sis's wrath._

 _And that's when she felt it. A soft, elegant, firm hand grasped Komaru's right shoulder. The air only suffocated Komaru more at this. She couldn't move, she couldn't even feel her legs at that point, they were just frozen in place like a statue. The only parts that continued to move were her jittering eyes, her twitchy fingers she couldn't stop, and the sweat that poured form her forehead._

 _Then, she appeared. From the shadows that were cast behind Komaru, Junko Enoshima's face slowly revealed, smiling a calm, simple, smile, as her eyes gazed to the girl before her without turning her head. This is what it felt like to be before Ultimate Despair, as best as Komaru could describe it. She was frozen with absolute fear, she couldn't even feel her heart beat as her breath was taken away before her, and she couldn't move in any direction, any part of her body. She couldn't turn to see the slowly revealing head, nor run to escape the powerful presence before her. She had no other words to describe this weird sensation coming from her._

 _It was as if death itself came to visit her._

"You called?" Junko asked, head perched near Komaru's right ear.

"Nggghhhh..." Monaca's sniffling caught Junko's curiosity as she walked around the frozen girl. It truly was like being next to death itself, because the minute she walked past her Komaru could finally breathe again.

If there was any room for doubt before, it quickly vanished. From magazines, to interviews, to news cast, this was all real. Right before her was the real, certified Junko Enoshima. The one she and her sister always looked up to, dreaming of becoming infamous fashion models like her someday. Now, here she was, in the flesh, and apparently the older "sibling" to these Warriors of Hope.

"Why is Monaca crying?" Junko asked in a firm tone as she squatted to Monaca's level.

"Tch..." Monaca hiccuped as she tried to respond. "B-Bi-Big S-S-Si-Sis...S-She..." Monaca struggled to find any voice.

"I-It's not what you think Big Sis, honest!" Masaru promised with worry.

"T-That's right!" Kotoko quickly pointed to Komaru accusingly. "It's all the Demon's fault for being too stupid! Monaca was just trying to explain everything nicely and the stupid demon was just being stupid and made her cry!"

"Is that so...?" Junko wondered, shifting her eyes towards Komaru briefly. Even her gaze was enough to startle Komaru. What was with this woman? With a hearty smile, Junko gently lifted Monaca into her arms, gently drying the tears with her thumb as she was embraced in a warm hug.

"I...tch...T-They...D-Demons..." Monaca continued to hiccup as she cried.

"Now, now, Monaca," Junko cooed softly, "remember what I always say. Demon words can't hurt you, only fists and objects can hurt you, ok?" She said gently setting Monaca in her chair once more.

"Sniff...tch...ok." Monaca replied wiping away her tears, easing up.

"That's good. And look, I even got you a present!" Junko said with excitement as she tossed the Hacking Gun into Monaca's lap. The other Warriors of Hope eyed it curiously, never seeing the device before.

"Huh-!" Komaru gasped to herself as she rummaged through her belongings. Sure enough, her gun was missing and now she knew why.

"Whoa, what is it?" Masaru asked.

"Good question..." Junko replied putting her fingers to her mouth.

 ***whistle***

"Servant!"

The next sound Komaru heard caught her attention as she turned around. Much to her shock and horror, there was the Servant, somewhat beaten, somewhat bloodied, as he was tossed into the room with his hands cuffed in front of him. If it wasn't the sight of his body that worried her, it was the near dozen Monokumas that followed him in while she didn't have the Hacking Gun that did.

"You called, Mistress?" The Servant replied casually as if nothing happened to him.

"You mind explaining what the heck this thing is?" Junko asked gesturing to the Hacking Gun Monaca was examining with the others.

 _Ok, stay calm Komaru,_ Komaru thought to herself as she panicked, _he must know some way out of this._

"Heh heh, guess I'm busted, huh?" The Servant chuckled uncaringly.

Or maybe she'll be totally screwed.

"You have no idea." Junko chuckled as she snapped her fingers.

 ***click***

"Ah!" Komaru yelped in fear as two of the Monokumas grabbed each arm. On the bright side, they seemed to only be holding her in place without any idea of ripping her to pieces. On the dark side, this ensured she had absolutely no way to escape from this room if she ever did. Their literal iron grip was squeezing with enough force she could feel her bones themselves, and no matter how hard she struggled pulling her arms the two bears remained motionless, not moving in place. There was no escape from this situation.

"Well, well, well, you must be the so-called Sister I've heard about." Junko spoke as she walked over gingerly, peering into Komaru's very soul. Komaru could barely gulp, containing the fear building up inside her. "Little Naegi's told me sooooo much about you, you know..." She said while twirling a piece of Komaru's hair. No matter how scared she was of the woman before her, she needed to know more information.

"W-What have you done with my sister?" Komaru nearly cried out as she asked.

"...Hmm..." Junko looked up in thought as she tapped her chin. "What did I do, what did I do? Hey Nagisa, what did I do to her again?"

"H-Huh? O-Oh," Nagisa perked up at the opportunity to assist Big Sis. "You didn't do anything to her, as instructed. We extracted information from her as you ordered, then held her prisoner for the last two months, also like you instructed."

"Very good, Nagisa, I'm proud of you." Junko complimented with a perky smile.

"Hehehe..." Nagisa could only lower his head as he had an immense blush covering his face. Being complimented for his talents were one thing, but it felt so much better when his Big Sis complimented him.

"W-What do you mean extracted?" Komaru asked worriedly. "What did you do to her?"

"H-Hey!" Masaru spoke up angrily. "You don't address Big Sis unless she address you first you big-!" Masaru instantly went silent as Junko raised her hand.

"Calm yourself, Masaru, she just needs to learn how things work here." She stated calmly.

 ***WHAP***

"Ah!" Komaru let out a cry of pain as her left cheek was smacked by Junko's surprisingly strong wrist. Any harder and it definitely would've bruised, provided it hadn't already.

"Whoops, my finger slipped...and the rest of my hand." Junko joked. "Are you suuuuure you're Naegi's sister? She had a much better pain tolerance than y-"

 ***pew***

 ***BOOM***

"Whoa!" Masaru was suddenly heard yelping.

Turning back, both girls were met with the sight of a broken apart Monokuma, one obviously caused by the Hacking Gun Masaru was last seen fiddling with when Monaca gave it to him. Thankfully for Junko's sake, it did explain every little detail she needed about the Hacking Gun, which further dwindled the number of useful questions she needed from Komaru.

"Huh...so that's what it does." She commented collecting the Hacking Gun once more, examining it thoroughly. "There seems to be a lot of bits missing from this thing... Hey, Servant!" She called over to the Servant who was being raised from his head by a Monokuma.

"Yes, mistress?" He replied politely.

"You got this from her when she was unconscious, didn't you?" She guessed.

"Got me again," he replied nonchalantly, "I was hoping we could've gone through this introduction without you finding out. Guess that's not happening now, huh?"

"I wonder if crickets chirp if they rub another cricket's legs..." Jataro wondered, off topic once again.

"Hey wait, if other sis had a Hacking Gun on her, then that means she was trying to cheat!" Kotoko complained. The other members looked at each other briefly, agreeing with the same subject.

"Hey yeah!" Masaru grumbled. "Cheating Demons are the worst kind!"

"Big Sis, if I might speak freely," Nagisa spoke, "I feel a cheating Demon should be punished before she goes through the game."

The brief while he was waiting for a response, Junko continued to examine the Hacking Gun curiously. The lack of response was making it difficult what she was thinking of or what her reply would be, but after another few seconds of silence, Nagisa took the initiative as he nodded to the Monokuma. With a nod to each other, the two Monokumas threw Komaru to the ground before two more appeared before her, all four of them pinning a separate limb to the ground with mere force, keeping her in place.

Komaru's brief struggled ended in for naught as a shadow was quick to loom over her, a Monokuma's frightening gaze drawing over her. Komaru found herself motionless with fear once again. This was it, she was going to die in this very spot. The sweat pouring from her head was no less than the fear and anxiety building in her mind. She could only stutter as her pupils narrowed, seeing the Monokuma raising it's black paw as it drew it's metallic sharp claws. All it would take was one clean swipe. Across her face, across her neck, even though her chest, and it would end it.

She wouldn't see her sister again, she wouldn't see her family again, she would never be able to return to any sort of normal life. All she could do at that moment was scream in fear.

"A-Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh-!"

 ***pew***

 ***BOOM!***

"Hack-! Ouuughhh.." Komaru suddenly burst into a fit of coughs as the black charred smoke enveloped her. Right before her death, right before the final hit, another blast of energy was shot straight at the Monokuma's left eye with perfect precision, destroying it in one shot. The next thing she knew, she was being lifted to her feet once more, the two Monokumas on her arms maintaining their grip as the two holding down her legs released her. The next sight she saw, to her confusion, was the Junko who had the freshly-shot Hacking Gun in her hand, still steaming.

"Hmm...very interesting..." Junko began to chuckle.

"A-Ah...B-Big Sis, why'd you-?" Nagisa struggled to speak. If Junko didn't agree with what he just did, she was going to make it well known. And as great as getting praised as Big Sis felt, getting scolded by her was also twice as bad.

"Don't get the wrong idea, Nagisa, you had the right idea." She assured to his relief. "But then, I just had this great idea!" She squealed turning back to them once more. "What if we let the cheating Demon play in the Demon Hunt!?"

"Huh!?" Kotoko, Jataro, Masaru, and Nagisa all exclaimed in unison.

Only Monaca give her a look of curiosity. "You want to let her play, Big Sis?"

"Of course!" She squatted down as she began to explain. "Look, no matter how many demons we kill, we still have more demons to kill, and none of them are fun, right?"

"Uh huh..." Monaca nodded, still curious about the point of this.

"On top of that, if we just keep killing the weak demons, the stronger demons will know and won't be scared of us."

"Oh, now I get it Big Sis..." Even Nagisa grinned at the idea. "If we show the world that we can take down even the strongest of Demons, then no Demon would dare oppose us!"

"Ooooh I love that idea!" Kotoko squeaked. "It's super adorbs!"

"I wonder if there's such a thing as swampmallows if there's marshmallows..." The leather-clothed boy muttered to himself. "But yeah, that sounds fun too."

"But what if she tries to cheat again, Big Sis?" Monaca asked tearing up slightly.

"Don't worry, don't worry." Junko smiled brightly as she patted Monaca's head. "We'll make it an official rule. Every time the Demon cheats, we get to cheat against her too. And it wouldn't even be us stooping to their level, we'd just be making things fair." She paused grinning to the supposed leader of the group. "Provided that's all fine by you, Hero Leader Masaru!"

"Hmph!" Masaru grinned proudly as he crossed his arms. "I agree with the idea completely! We'll show the entire world the power of the Warriors of Hope!"

"Good!" Junko turned back with a clap. "Then we're all in agreement, right?"

"No!" Komaru shook her head, much to Junko's surprise. "I don't want any part of this game, or anything to do with this! I just want to find my sister..." She choked tearing up.

She didn't know what to say about all of this. All throughout the day she's been forced to go one way or another, whether against her will or not. She couldn't fly to safety like she had hoped, she couldn't choose where to explore throughout the floors below, all she could do is go in one direction. At the rate it was going she was going to turn into a rat in a maze by the end of this week.

"Please...I'm begging you..." Komaru sniffled a little as she tried to clear her throat. "Just let my sister go, please!"

"..." Junko just tapped her chin as she stared at her. Komaru couldn't tell if she was thinking what to do, or deciding to listen to a word Komaru said. All she knew was that every second spent in silence drove Komaru to the brink of despair. "Alright, I'll bite. I have a grand proposal." With the clap of her hands she began to walk back a few feet passed the kids before deciding to sit down where she stood. As if expecting it, two Monokumas quickly appeared on the spot acting as her chair, getting on all fours as the one under her acted as the seat, the other one acting as a foot rest. "Play our game of Demon Hunting, and if you win, you'll have your sister back."

"D-Demon... Hunting?" Komaru blinked trying to rid herself of any tears. She didn't know what to expect, but if she wanted to get her sister back she had to go through with it.

"It's a super fun game where the Warriors of Hope fight to see who takes down the Demon first!" Masaru explained excitedly. "We release you into the city, and you become our target!"

"It's a super fun game!" Kotoko squeaked. "Our Big Sis and Monaca came up with this clever game all by themselves!"

"Hmhmhm!" Monaca chuckled happily. "It's an exciting game! Come on, hurry up and let's do it!"

"We'll need to prepare the device first." Nagisa reminded.

"Already done." Junko said instantly from behind Komaru's back once more.

 ***click***

"W-What is this?" She was more confused about the strange bracelet that Junko suddenly snapped around her wrist than the fact she was behind her at all. She didn't even see her coming, but within the manner of a second Junko managed to get behind Komaru at Superhuman speeds. At least the Monokuma on her left was kind enough to release his grip, showing her the device.

It was a very bizarre looking black bracelet. It had some strange similarity to Monokuma in the red indicator that was styled in the shape of Monokuma's red eye. Whatever the purpose of it was force though, she had yet to figure out.

"That my dear Komaru, is a custom-made device given to the horrible Demons of this game." Junko explained walking circles around her. "There's several rules of this game you must abide by, for your own safety of course. The most important one though is never mess with it. Unless you wanna end up like the Monokuma currently in pieces..."

"Other words, it'll be Ka-boom for ya!" Masaru said ecstatically.

"K-Kaboom!?" She repeated.

"Can we start now siiiiiis?" Jataro asked growing bored.

"Fine, fine, just let me give her one last secret message." Junko leaned closer to Komaru's left ear. "And if you try to cheat any more, take too long for a single warrior to find you, or try to escape this little game," Komaru jumped as Junko suddenly grabbed her chin, keeping her still, "I'll skin Naegi over the fucking TV..." She whispered just enough for Komaru to hear as she walked back to the children.

"W-Why...Why are you doing all this...?" Komaru's face drained of color as tears welled up in her eyes.

"This is just what we like." Monaca replied simply. "We do it because it's fun. That's our one and only reason!"

"Searching for the meaning in the meaningless is for the adults." Nagisa commented. "Children are untainted by such futility. But, to tell you the truth, I would rather not play this game." Those words would've been of some comfort to Komaru if the people before her weren't so twisted. "There is still much work to be done to build our paradise, yet here we are playing games...But, this is Monaca's and Big Sis' game. They said they wanted it done, so it will be done."

"Monaca is our princess, and Big Sis is our Queen!" Jataro declared. "Everyone on our team tries to grant the Queen's wishes, no matter how hard... Say do you think that would make this a Queendom? Why are there no Queendoms anymore? Do you think snakes slither while they rattle or rattle while they slither?"

"And I loooove what Big Sis loves!" Kotoko huffed. "And Monaca loves what Big Sis loves, so I love that too!"

"That's basically the situation here." Nagisa finished.

"Thank you, Nagisa." Monaca smiled. "Even though you're so busy, you did all this work for the sake of our game... I'll have to bake you some delicious cookies later as thanks! In fact, I'll make you something extra special with Big Sis' help!"

For the first time since meeting her, Junko's eyes widened in a cutesy fashion as they sparkled like stars. "Upupu, you'we such a gentleman, Nagisa!" She commented in a cutesy tone.

"...Y-Yeah. Thank you." The mad blush covering his face was more obvious than the droplets of sweat pouring down it.

"Awww! That's so not fair!" Kotoko whined puffing out her cheeks. "I want treats made by Monaca and Big Sis too!"

"Hey, Big Sis! What about me? The leader." Masaru whined too.

"Why? How can you kids just keep smiling like that? You're... you're not normal..." The tears poured endlessly from Komaru's eyes.

This didn't make any sense to Komaru, if it ever did before. These children could not be what they appeared to be. They either had to be wolves in sheep's clothing, or they all had to secretly be adults with some disease that prevented them from aging normally. It was the only explanation! There was no possible way Komaru could see this that would explain how these kids can act so horribly to everyone they ever met. They seemed normal, they acted normal half the time, then the other half the time they acted like demons who were obsessed with the death of others around them.

Then, she remembered Junko. The one teen among the group standing before all of them. She couldn't figure out how, but she had to be the one responsible for every horrible thing these kids were doing, she just had to! Or maybe that was just her mind unwilling to accept the reality before them again, like the beaten Servant said awhile ago. Would it still be denial to think that though given the present situation? No group of kids would ever act like this on their own, there was no denial behind that. It was just fact, a kid couldn't be as evil as these five without something or someone guiding them. That had to be where Junko's involvement came in, that's what she kept telling herself to make it through this conversation.

"Hm, of course an _adult_ sees us as abnormal." Monaca puffed. "But! Who! Cares! What! Adults! Say!" For a moment the other Warriors of Hope panicked she was going to cry out once more, but with Big Sis by their side they knew she could be there to comfort. "Also, Komaru Naegi... In your current situation, you don't have the right to say a thing. You cannot choose your path. Because this place you're in? It isn't a path at all."

"...What?" What did she mean by any of that?

"I think I said my piece. I'm ready when you are Big Sis." Monaca decided as she smiled.

"In that case, I think we can start the game." Junko grinned.

They were serious. They were honest to god serious. This wasn't some prank, this wasn't some sort of nightmare, this was real. They were going to force her to partake in a city-wide game where they were going to hunt her down like an animal. And with Junko's last words, there was no way Komaru could refuse. If she didn't play along, Naegi dies. If she does play along, she had a chance of dying herself.

But what choice did she have?

Apparently none in her case as Junko stood beside the Warriors of Hope once more with a grin on her face.

"J...Just tell me one thing then..." She hoped her one request wasn't pushing her luck. "W-Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Junko stared at her for a few seconds before grinning, pointing her fist at her with her thumb sticking out to the side. "Remember this, because I'll only say it to you and you only. I'm Junko Enoshima, the Angel among Demons. And now..." With the same speed she possessed before, she disappeared briefly from Komaru's vision, feeling something slipped onto her back suddenly, and returning to her position amongst the kids before Komaru could look back once more.

Komaru watched as one by one, each of the Warriors of Hope held their fists out in a similar manner as Junko as they spoke in unison.

Then, all at once, they gave her a thumbs down.

 **"You're going down!"**

 _The atmosphere grew heavier once again following these words. Something was about to happen, and she wouldn't be able to escape from it this time. If she did, the Monokuma surrounding them all would rip her to shreds. There was no way the Servant was going to be able to help her either, still lying beaten and battered on the floor where the Monokuma threw him. Strangely enough, for whatever reason, he was smiling. Something about the situation gave him reason to smile. That was the last figment inserted to her mind before Komaru suddenly caught the Hacking Gun thrown back to her._

 _And with that, she dropped. The floor below her gave out no sooner than when she caught the gun, sending her falling face first through the hole before finding herself falling face first into an endless abyss, one of pure darkness and even more despair than she had ever known. She wasn't just falling possibly to her death, through one means or another, she was falling to the most horrific game she could ever dream of. The last she saw of the others where each of their faces, including Junko's, smiling at her as she fell to the Earth below._

 _After what felt like minutes, her parachute opened up, designed in the face of Monokuma's expression like everything else. It was here, through these thick clouds that slowly cleared and the wind sailing past her skirt which she was forced to press down, that she finally realized where she was. She was in the sky, floating down below the city she once dared to escape. Looking back was the only way she could discover the strange airship from which she was dropped from, rather astounded to find she's been taking held captive within the airships walls the entire time._

 _It almost made her come to some relief that she didn't find a way out if it would resulted in the air pulling her out and dropping to her death._

 _All she could do now was wait. Wait until her descent into the city came to an end. As much as she hoped against, the city before her was definitely the same Towa City she flew through days ago. The city's skies still ran red like fire, the buildings were wrecked and cracked in several areas all around, and numerous patches of blood filled the streets. Considering Komaru had to be well over 500 feet at the moment, for her to see any bits of blood on the ground worried her about how many people lied dead below the streets themselves. They had to be piled up upon one another for her to notice it from this high up. Either that or the corpses had to be mutilated beyond recognition, the first she prayed was her answer._

 _Because now, there was nothing. All she could do was float and prepare for whatever despair came to her..._

...

...

"A child's ears are!?" Junko asked raising her fist.

"Wonderful ears!" The Warriors cheered raising their fist to her.

A child's eyes are!?"

"Adorable eyes!"

"A child's mouth is!?"

"A great big mouth!

"Why is it so big!?"

"To gobble up the Demons!"

"Hahahahahaha!" Everyone laughed in joy.

Every day for a kid would be the best day ever. No longer would they have to worry about stupid demons ruining the lives of others! No longer would parents boss around kids and tell them what to do! They would be free and happy! And with Big Sis Junko watching over them, they knew they had nothing to fear! She cared about each of the kids as her own pride and joy, especially Monaca who she was kneeled down near.

"Alright!" Masaru was pumped! "Gaaame on!"

"Let's say this particular Demon will be worth an extra high score because it upset us." Nagisa decided.

"Ufufu," Kotoko chuckled, "then it looks like I'll win when I catch it!"

"A game is different than reality... So that means even I can actually win!" Jataro spoke in a slow tone.

"My my! It's rare to see Jataro so pumped... But it also makes him extra gross."

"That don't matter!" The leader crossed his arms with assurance. "At the end of the day, the one who wins is gonna be me, the leader!"

"Now now, it doesn't matter who wins." Nagisa reminded. "Just make sure you don't fight while playing the game!"

"Well, anyway, do you guys wanna get a cola or something?" Jataro asked around.

"Oooh, a soda sounds great!" Masaru agreed. "Someone go buy some! Leader's orders!" It was around that time Kotoko noticed Junko rising up from her little chat with Monaca as she began wheeling her away.

"Hey Big Sis, Monaca, where you going?" Kotoko asked coming over.

"Potty break!" Junko chirped casually.

"I need to use the bathroom for a bit." Monaca replied. "But after that, we're going to make everyone a nice big chocolate cake."

"Ooooooh, I love it when you both make treats!" Kotoko squealed once more.

"Yeah but," Junko paused briefly as she yawned, "before or after that we're gonna take a small nap. I've been up since yesterday killing demons all over. You wanna join us?"

"Suuure!" Kotoko screamed with enthusiasm. "It'll be girls only, no boys allowed!" She deemed, earning some chuckles from the other two.

"But first things first, bathroom." Junko reminded as she continued pushing Monaca away. Kotoko gave a simple wave as she went back to where the other boys were, discussing everything needed for the newest demon.

At the same time, huddled up at the end of the room still beaten from his injuries, the Servant looked back solemnly as Junko gave him a brief glance. Her expression was nothing he wasn't expecting, being a twisted look of despair, anger, pride, greed, and joy twisted into one despairingly evil smile that only he could notice amongst the children. She knew what he attempted to do, and because of it, Komaru was going to endure and even harder game than the Servant originally expected.

He supposed he should've seen it coming, though. Her analytical powers were second to none. Everything of her life was based around despair, It was the only factor of life she didn't find boring, predictable. It was the only sense of her life that she could ever feel the thrill of excitement, joy. Even if it meant the death of nearly everyone around her, she would bring despair to anyone and everyone necessary just to taste it. It was moments like this that he wished Naegi was still around, but then again, Junko was quite insistent on him ensuring Naegi's "accidental escape". It was the only condition to letting Komaru use the Hacking Gun throughout the Demon Hunting.

It was then that he looked off into space, sighing to himself with whatever hope he could muster. "...Alright... Do your best, Miss Protagonist... You need to find your sister before it's too late..."

...

...

...

 ** _A/N: Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I think I'll stop there ^^ Hooftah, what a fun write! I can safely say my writing is coming back cause I wrote 9/10ths of this piece above yesterday alone, and that was after the 2nd half of the 2nd chapter I did :P!_**

 ** _Whooooooooooo boy! I gotta tell you guys I'm having a lot of fun with this fanfic if it wasn't obvious enough XP. And now, thankfully, I can go a few chapters without having to worry about by-the-book dialogue and scenes, as much of the game, while keeping some parts here and there, change dramatically from the real game itself ^^._**

 ** _And for those worried, relax XP Granted I'm still trying to keep it as close to the main game as possible, I'm not gonna do word-for-word descriptions and events like "They entered this room! They shot that Monokuma! Then two more popped out! They shot them too" or anything XP Yes there will still be plenty of run and gun moments, literally in the case of Ikusaba it seems, but for the most part it'll be somewhat spaced out while going through all this._**

 ** _By the way, on a personal note, I find it kinda weird- I'm used to referring to everyone from DGR1 by their last name but then everyone after that I'm used to referring to them by their first name... anyone else have that situation or am I the only one? Oh well, no biggie._**

 ** _Like I said guys, this is gonna be a rather fun series to write, hopefully you guys have just as much fun reading it ^^ And for those who don't, I refer to you my complaint department, aka, Ikusaba..._**


	4. Komaru meets Mukuro

**_A/N: Got nuttin to say here folks, so let's continue ^^!...oh wait there is one thing. Not a real biggie, i just recently found out Makoto CAN be a girl's name in the japanese world, which I'm more or less glad to hear because only recently (i have no idea why THREE YEARS AFTER STARTING I'm getting this unease but better late than never I guess XP?) started wondering/worrying about possibly changing Naegi's (not komaru) first name since I thought "makoto" still sounded a bit boyish._**

 ** _Thankfully, there do appear to be some female characters with the name Makoto, so life crisis averted ^^ I was even planning on adding a joke later in the story explaining why Naegi had a "boy's name" XP...*sigh*_**

 ** _Oh yeah and I only recently discovered this too: i forgot to add the stupid list of characters that were going to be in this series XP you'd be surprised who goes looking for a fanfic with specific characters, cause I know i do ^^_**

 ** _Anyway! Enjoying time ^^!_**

 ** _PS: Reposting due to some issue of my email not registering it as posted, don't know if it was a glitch or not so sorry for anyone else getting the "this idiot posted this fic" message twice XP_**

...

...

...

 **Journal Entry #4:**

 **Dear Mr. D,**

 **Today my friends and I played with our new friend in a really funny tango game! They were making a whole lot of funny faces the entire time that got everyone else laughing. At one point they started getting sad again, but I convinced them that we were just laughing at the game itself, not them. I love my new friend for being so understanding.**

...

...

...

...

...

"Ahhhhhhhh-!" Komaru continued to scream as she came to the end of her descent. She was finally reaching the stopping point of her skydiving as she landed near the top of a building, trying to control her fall as the parachute pulled her forward. The next thing she knew she was getting scrapped along the rooftop as she landed on her knees for the next few seconds until her parachute finally collapsed in a heap. "Ow ow ow... That was so scary..."

 ***rattle***

"Huh?" Komaru looked around her landing zone as she heard something shaking around her. It only took a matter of three seconds before her eyes widened, seeing the all too familiar figure of a large Monokuma slowly ascend the from the edge of the Rooftop's fence, followed by another one appearing behind the rooftop's entryway. "T-They're here..." She muttered to herself in fright.

It didn't just end with those two either. One by one, from behind the large AC units of the building, the ventilation shafts across the edges, from the very fences themselves, Komaru was met with even more Monokuma. "Ngh," she couldn't handle the sight of this many horrifying beasts at once, quickly hiding under the parachute itself as she prayed for anyone to save her, "please help me please help me please help me..." She chanted to herself.

She didn't want to take any part of this Demon Hunting, she didn't want anything to do with it! She was expected to make it through this entire hunt on her own while being hunted by insane children throughout the entire city and the ferocious Monokuma that walked the streets, and with no other option given to her.

By now she could hear the mechanical whirring of gears as the Monokumas drew in closer with each passing step. She could only think to continue hiding for dear life, praying for either someone to save her or for them to spare her like the ones encountered after her crash did. She could only sit there and cry while hiding with her head buried under her arms waiting for anything at this point.

 ***ratatatatatatata-***

"Ahh!" Komaru screamed in fear at the loud sound of gunfire suddenly going off. She didn't know if someone else was doing it or if maybe somehow the Monokuma learned how to use guns, and she wasn't too keen on finding out.

Outside of her parachute cover, numerous bullets were raining down upon everything with the rooftop save for Komaru herself and the mysterious figure shooting. All of the Monokuma could only register the target for a split second at a time before each of them were shot through their mechanical eye with pinpoint accuracy, exploding one by one until nothing but smouldering remains covered the entire roof.

After another few seconds Komaru opened her eyes as she heard the gunfire come to a complete stop. I-Is it over? She wondered to herself as she cautiously took a peak outside.

And was instantly met by the end of a barrel from a pistol pointed right between her eyes. She was frozen with fear as her breathing became shallow, having gone from a simple, granted obvious, hiding spot to coming out to find a gun pointed at right her head.

"A-Ah-ah-ah..." She stuttered.

"Are you Komaru Naegi?" A voice asked suddenly snapping her out of it. Following the length of the arm that grasped the gun before her, Komaru's eyes widened only further at the sight of her rescuer.

From the waste up, the girl before her was practically built for nothing else but war. She wore a brown leather army vest with numerous large pockets that spread all around her from the front and back, a simple rugged white longsleeve-shirt that stretched to her wrists while also wearing fingerless gloves. On each side of her were holsters for each of her pistols, one of which she was directing at Komaru at the time, with several grenades lined up across the hip of her short skirt. And, much to Komaru's disbelief, she was sporting both a shotgun and an AK-47 across her back.

Everything else from the waste down was about what you could expect of a typical high school girl, from her dark black short skirt that didn't even go halfway down her knees, her long black socks that almost did, and her simple hard heel buckled shoes that she could slip in and out of in any event.

"Are you Komaru Naegi?" The girl suddenly asked firmly. There was something familiar about the girl before her but the stress of her recent events made it hard to realize.

"A-Are...Are you...here to rescue-" Komaru stuttered again.

 ***click***

"Ngh!" Komaru meeped to herself as she watched the girl suddenly pull back the barrel, ready to fire.

"Answer the question!" The girl's face was filled with nothing but pure rage and distress.

Even with this though Komaru couldn't help but ask. "W-Who...Who are you?"

She regretted the answer.

"My name is Mukuro Ikusaba, now answer the fucking question before I BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

"A-A-Ah..." Komaru continued to tear up as she stared at the barrel of the gun.

She couldn't tell anymore who scared her more given her list of choices.

The Monokumas rampaging the city.

The Warriors of Hope.

Junko Enoshima.

Or Mukuro Ikusaba.

When it came to the Monokumas they were horrifying. From the streets to the buildings themselves Monokumas rampaged across the city with only one clear objective: Kill any and all adults, or demons as the children were putting it. If they were completely white and didn't have that dark half of them, Komaru could picture them being a little cute, but even if that changed at this very point, it wouldn't matter anymore. She's seen enough carnage and mayhem caused by those bears to last a life time. If there was any consolation to this, apparently they were nothing more than remote-controlled robots who were being lead by Monaca of the Warriors of Hope.

Speaking of the Warriors of Hope, they were just as, if not more, terrifying than the Monokumas themselves. They were the one who put the plan into having these Monokumas run around wrecking havoc and chaos to anyone who crossed their path. They were the ones who forced Komaru into this Demon Hunting game she was barely given any instruction for other than the fact she would be hunted throughout the entire thing.

The hard part to realize through all of this was that they were just kids! She couldn't understand how or why kids like these could easily go around and kill any adults like they were nothing but mere toys. They even treated this Demon Hunt as nothing more than a simple game, one to eradicate all adults from the city so they could build a paradise with children, for children, by children. It was the fact they saw human life as nothing more than a game though that got really frightening for her. To them, she was nothing more than another enemy for them to slaughter, another victim for some game of twisted mayhem, even calling her a cheater when Junko discovered the Hacking Gun on her person.

Which was one of the harder parts for her to come to terms with, meeting Junko Enoshima. The girl she and her sister once looked up to as an idol who was considered the Ultimate Fashionista to the past world. To the current world she was known as the Ultimate Despair. Somehow she single handedly managed to bring about The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Tragic Event in Human History, or the Tragedy in shorter terms. That one event managed to bring Despair and ruin to the rest of the world, creating needless violence and war without provocation or reward. It was just a war for the sake of war.

She also assumed her to be the true mastermind behind this Demon Hunting game given all she's seen so far. The children themselves seem to look up to her like their actual Big Sis, fearing her when one of them is crying and being by her side when she cries herself. They were both her instruments of destruction and her family by the looks of it. She wasn't about to let anyone look down upon her or the children when they were near, and they were more than willing to sacrifice themselves for her sake just as much as they would for Monaca.

And then, there was finally Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier. She had no details on the girl before her since this was their actual first confrontation with each other. Komaru prayed it wouldn't be their last either. She had no background experience or knowledge of the girl save for what the Future Foundation told her before she tried to escape.

Ikusaba was a traitor. She betrayed the Future Foundation by kidnapping Naegi and apparently bringing her to Towa City. She didn't know if she should ever question her on it or keep it to herself, provided she got to that opportunity in life seeing how she was ready to shoot her. Ikusaba's method of a first meeting appeared to be saving her from dozens of Monokumas on the rooftops followed by threatening to shoot Komaru in the face if she didn't respond. Clearly threatening to kill someone who was already terrified and expecting an immediate answer was an expectancy to the soldier, not giving a single care for her words or what she was doing here.

"I said give me your fucking name!" Ikusaba gritted her teeth in anger.

"I-I...K..." Komaru was paralyzed with fear. It was like last time when she was approached from behind by Junko. It was only then that she remembered the other piece of information from the Future Foundation.

Ikusaba was the older sibling of Junko Enoshima. It did provide a little confusion as to why they had different last names, but that was the least of Komaru's worries. She was the sister of the one who destroyed the world, or at least nearly did. She was also a full-fledged soldier who's killed many people in her time. Putting the two together it seemed fitting to place Ikusaba and Junko along the same lines.

"Ghhhhh!" Ikusaba growled as she lifted her from the collar of her shirt. "Tell me your fucking name already!"

"Ngh..." Komaru could only tear up once again.

It was only then that Ikusaba noticed it. That similar look in Komaru's eyes as she teared up. It was all too recognizable to someone like her. It was that look of innocence and fear, the same one Naegi herself, the other one at least, would always have when Ikusaba first knew her. If there was ever a need for identification other than one's name her tears would be it.

 ***rattle***

"Hm?" Ikusaba's attention was caught by the sound of the fences shaking once more. Cussing silently to herself, she took a brief glance around the roof before finding a good spot to continue the conversation. "Follow me." She ordered. It didn't really matter if Komaru wanted to or not since she was being dragged anyway.

No sooner had they cleared the opening did a near dozen Monokumas suddenly show up again. Whether it was due to the range of violence, the loud gunfire that their hearing possibly picked up, or the fact Junko herself was probably just trying to make things harder for her, any of these factors made it easy for the mechanical nightmares to find Komaru's landing zone. Taking a quick peek from behind the giant Ventilation System atop the roof, Ikusaba groaned to herself once more before glaring back at the frightened girl before her.

"You know you can make a conversation a lot faster if you just say something." Ikusaba commented.

"K-Komaru!" Komaru suddenly yelped snapping her eyes shut. "My name is Komaru- I mean yes I'm Komaru. Komaru Naegi."

"A little late for the introductions don't you think?" The soldier remarked rolling her eyes. "Stupid twat..." She muttered examining the Monokumas some more.

There was so much Komaru wanted to say but the one thing that kept coming to the front of her mind was her Sister's kidnapping. After all here she was, the one who kidnapped her sister months ago and is possibly working with Junko! So what did she want with her? She didn't even get the time to bother as Ikusaba spoke first.

"Is something wrong?" She looked at Komaru from head to toe. "You keep giving me a weird look."

"Eh...Um..." She couldn't mention anything about the kidnapping no matter how much she tried to force it. All she could do for now is reply in whatever way Ikusaba wanted. "T-Thank you! Rescuing! You- I mean... thank you for rescuing me!"

The soldier didn't know what to make of Komaru herself. She was speaking in such a broken manner that she couldn't help but wonder if she had some mental disability Naegi never told her about. None of the fact that she was a terrifying soldier who threatened to kill her seconds ago over a name registered to her.

"Are you some sort of slow kid or something?" Ikusaba had to ask.

"W-Wha? N-No!" Komaru quickly replied. "I-I was just surprised by everything, that's all."

"Uh huh..." Ikusaba mumbled unamused. "Anyway, where's Naegi?"

"Huh?" That was a direct question Komaru wasn't expecting. "N-Naegi? You mean my sister, right?"

"No, the Queen of- YES I MEAN YOUR SISTER!" Ikusaba yelled angrily.

Komaru pondered this question for a bit. Did she really not know anything about Naegi's whereabouts or was she just pretending it? Maybe she could coax some sort of answer behind the kidnapping herself. "U-Umm...D-Don't you know where she is?" She hesitantly asked back. One of the wisest men once said you should never piss off anyone with a shotgun. Especially if they were sporting several other weapons at that. Curiously enough, however, Ikusaba just looked back to her in confusion.

"Huh? Why would I know?" She asked with a raised brow. "You're her sister, you should know where she is."

"I-I should?"

"Duh, don't you have some psychic-link or something like siblings do?"

...Komaru really didn't know what to make of that now. Here she was, one of the most dangerous looking girls Komaru's had yet to meet outside of Junko or the girls from the Warriors of Hope, yet she gave her a response she'd expect from a five year old.

"Umm...I-I think you're thinking about twins." Komaru stated. "I don't think that applies to twins."

"Tch, yeah right..." Ikusaba muttered. "Anyway, where's Naegi?" She repeated.

"Ummm... I... I don't know..."

There was a sudden shift in the air immediately following this response. Komaru's heart began racing as Ikusaba slowly looked back to her with the look of death in her eyes. It was nothing like Junko had before when they first met. Unlike Junko who had it just from appearing, Ikusaba's presence of death came from the enraged expression present on her face. Sweat began dripping down her forehead as Ikusaba slowly turned back to her, slowly walking step by step with immense intimidation.

She was going to kill her.

"What... Do you mean you don't know...?" Ikusaba hissed. The frightened girl didn't even want to ask at the rate things were going but she didn't have a choice. Refusing to answer would result in a bullet through the skull. At least if she said something she'd buy herself a few more seconds of life.

"I-I-I...I don't know where she is..."

"..."

The only thing more frightening than Ikusaba's words were her silence. There was no processing what thoughts were currently going through the twisted mind of someone like her. Not just in a soldier's viewpoint, but a member of Ultimate Despair.

"Tell me where Naegi is." Ikusaba said firmly.

"I-I can't... I'm sor-Ah!" Komaru suddenly yelped as Ikusaba grabbed her by the throat.

"Then where is she?"

"I-I don't know! I-I-I just know she's in the city-

"Where in the city!?" The soldier snapped losing her patience.

"I don't know," Komaru cried, "I don't know, ok?"

"...Fine."

The few brief seconds Komaru thought she was save ended with despair as Ikusaba suddenly threw her in the middle of the rooftop. The small yelp of pain she let out and the thud caused upon landing caught the attention of all the Monokumas at once. Simultaneously their eyes glowed red with bloodlust as each Monokuma casually marched over to the terrified girl.

From behind the Ventilation Ikusaba continued to watch the scene unfold, watching the trembling girl. She needed to know what she was dealing with here. Was Komaru useful or was she weak? Could she handle her own or would Ikusaba be forced to play babysitter through the entirety events? She was the sister of the Ultimate Hope after all so there was no telling if she could hold her own, if there was some form of secret talent Komaru had that kept her alive for as long as she did or something else? Surely this test was going to be the proof she needed!

"Ahhhhh!"

Or maybe not. Komaru was petrified with fear, summoning whatever strength she needed to just to draw her gun out. Ikusaba couldn't even believe her eyes. She wasn't shooting like some heroine from a fairytale or some anime, she was just shooting for dear life. Granted her shots were connecting a few times here and there, and she did manage to destroy at least three Monokuma herself which was a rather promising sign, but she was doing everything wrong.

She must've wasted at least half her animation as most of the shots that even did connect with the targets she aimed at the bellies or limbs. To her credit she was still lying down and scooting back at the same time but it was still frustrating to watch for the soldier. She wasn't even focusing on one at a time, she was shooting each of them randomly, or at least whichever ones were a foot closer than the rest.

And then it happened.

 ***click***

 ***click***

 ***click***

"Oh no..." Komaru panicked as she saw the hud of the Hacking Gun after a minute of firing.

There wasn't a single shot left. The hud that displayed the ammo capacity read x0. Komaru was almost in disbelief of the matter as she tried shooting at several Monokumas once again. Maybe the gun was just bugged? Or maybe it needed a second to recharge itself? Any one of those situations would perfectly explain the dire need to use it and convenient timing of it not working so suddenly.

"Come on, come on, come on..." Komaru begged.

It was at this point her back reached the wall of the entryway. Sadly for her it wasn't the side that the door was located on and there was no reaching for it now. All the Monokuma were evenly spread around her as they zeroed in on her. There wasn't one clear opening between them with the gaps growing even smaller with each passing second. And thanks to her last run-in with the two Monokuma who held her in place upon the airship she knew she wouldn't be able to push past them the minute they grabbed her.

It was only then that she remembered the one person who could save her right now.

"I-Ikusaba!" Komaru shouted worriedly. To her shock the soldier wasn't noticeable from the ventilation she was hidden at moments ago. "Ikusaba!" Komaru cried out as she looked all around the rooftop. From what little openings passed the Monokumas she could see, she couldn't catch a single glimpse of Ikusaba. She was nowhere to be seen, abandoning the helpless girl before the Monokuma that now towered over her. All she could do was cover her head like before, cowering in fear. "IKUSABA-!"

 ***Bang!***

The familiar sound of gunfire brought surprising relief to the young girl as she saw the Monokuma before her explode, seeing the bullet hole through it's red eye moments before. To her surprise, as the gunfire continued, they were all emanating from above her, a single shot required for each of the following three Monokumas still standing. Looking up once more, she was surprised more than anything to see Ikusaba standing atop the entryway itself before jumping down in front of her. She didn't even see Ikusaba get passed all of them!

"This is going to be really annoying I can already tell." She mumbled.

 ***************************************************** Tutorial Time! *****************************************************

 **What's that? Didn't think you'd get a tutorial inside of a fanfic? Well too bad!**

 **During certain portions of the game and later on after another tutorial, you'll be able switch controls to Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier. Hold the Right Trigger button to scroll through her inventory and select her weapons or just click the Right Trigger to shuffle through them.**

 **Ikusaba's control schemes is similar to that of Komaru's with a few key differences.**

 **First off, unlike Komaru, Ikusaba takes no damage at all! How lucky! But for now, the option to switch to Ikusaba during gameplay is prohibited, as well as during certain fights.**

 **Secondly, many of Ikusaba's combat abilities vary depending on the weapon used.**

 **Her pistol has an auto-lock feature that can zero in on the red eye of a Monokuma if targeted for several seconds while holding still, making critical shots guaranteed. It's regular shots are the weakest but it has the fastest reload speed of all her weapons.**

 **Her shotgun provides great damage to enemies up close while being weaker at range but allowing the spread to hit more enemies. If you manage to counterattack an enemy before it hits you you'll manage to daze them for a few seconds.**

 **Third, her custom-made AK-47. The gun itself was modified by Ikusaba to fire more accurate shots at an increased firing rate. However be forewarned that the reload time for this gun takes the longest no matter how many bullets you're reloading. Also the more you use the AK-47 the higher chance the gun has to suddenly jam, forcing Ikusaba spend reload again for even twice as long.**

 **Also like Komaru, Ikusaba has a limited amount of ammo that may be upgraded over time. But don't worry- ammo drops you pick up for Komaru will also restore a little bit of ammo to Ikusaba's weapons depending on the ammo-type picked up, as well as supply caches at save points that will refill all her ammo. Over time Ikusaba may come across more weaponry to add to her arsenal with either upgraded qualities or unique features.**

 **Lastly, is her standard-issue Combat Knife. Like her Pistol, this can be used to lock onto enemies and deliver more powerful blows than her pistol without the pesky need to reload! However this does require you to get up and close personal which could put Ikusaba at risk.**

 **For now though, there is no penalty for how much damage you take, so feel free to experiment to your hearts content!**

 **************************************************** Tutorial Time! *******************************************************

The next minute before Komaru was like something out of an action movie for her. Ikusaba had no sense of fear, hesitation, or delay in all of her strikes. It made Komaru wonder if she was just doing this for real or just to show off. The first two Monokumas to lunge at her were the first to fall before her as her pistol made easy work of them. The third that tried to get the drop on her during her short opening she managed to stab right in the eye with her combat knife, actually managing to grab hold of the near-hundred pound monstrosity when it lunged at her and slamming it to the ground.

Following this another Monokuma attempted to lunge at her when her back was turned, but like the last one it was met with an abrupt end. Komaru couldn't even believe is Ikusaba just casually pulled out her shotgun and blasting it behind her with one hand. The fact the immense force of the shotgun didn't just dislocate her shoulder or arm in this sorta way already proves the immense strength coursing through Ikusaba's veins, and that's just if the bear she slammed down didn't.

For a brief moment there was a sudden scare for Komaru as another one of the bears actually managed to tackle Ikusaba to the ground pinning her shoulders with it's paws. But it's last mistake was attempting to impale her through the head with it's razor sharp blades, dodging her head out of the way in time as it's got it's hand stuck through the flooring. Before it could even lift it's hand again Ikusaba stabbed through it with her knife, trapping it in place as she slid out from underneath the death machine.

Just as quickly as she got back to her feet the last several Monokumas came running after her planning to attack her from three separate sides. She couldn't tell right away but Komaru was almost positive there was more of an look of annoyance on Ikusaba's expression than concern. Her assumption proved accurate enough as as she pulled out her pistol in one hand, shotgun in the other. In one swift motion, she shot both the Monokumas running to her at her sides point blank, while delivering one powerful stomp to the Monokuma's head that came at her from straight ahead, managing to use her incredible strength to press it against the hard cement floor pinning it in place.

At this point, Ikusaba just casually started reloading her pistol while the Monokuma before her struggled to get up. It couldn't reach it's stubby arms above it's heads and Ikusaba's slender legs proved too thin for it to swipe at. The only thing it could do was struggle like a flopping fish until Ikusaba finished reloading her weapon, taking a brief moment to blast the head off the one pinned down with her combat knife with her shotgun, then blasting away the last one under her heel. And then, she finally let out a single breath as several of them exploded after.

It was nothing short of awesome to Komaru. In under a single minute Ikusaba destroyed eight Monokumas before her like they were nothing. She didn't flinch in the slightest, she maneuvered around them with relative easy, and took out each of them single handedly. Even letting out a breath just as the Monokumas exploded before her. This girl was definitely straight out of an action movie!

"T-That was amazing!" Komaru shouted with excitement as she got to her feet. Ikusaba just shifted her eyes back to her. "You were like a superhero! Y-You just took them all out so easily, its was l-Ugh!" Komaru suddenly gagged for air.

Whether it was due to the heat of the moment or simply being annoyed with her, Komaru found herself suddenly choking as Ikusaba grasped her around the neck tightly. She looked just as she did when fighting off the Monokumas, looking ready to kill Komaru without any hesitation as she choked her while pushing her against the entryway's wall.

"What the hell was that!?" She shouted back angrily.

"Ngh?" The suffocating girl struggled to let out a single word as her feet was lifted off the ground.

"You just shot madly into a crowd of them without any sort of strategy or idea of what to do! Did you plan on letting them kill you after you ran out of bullets or what!?"

"Tch...I-I...am s-so..." Komaru's face slowly began to lose color as she choked. She was running out of breath and Ikusaba's menacing grip was ensuring not a single particle of air was inhaled.

Then, to Komaru's surprise and worry, Ikusaba began to... smile? "...Heh...What's wrong Komaru...Having trouble...? Hehehe..." Something was definitely wrong with this girl. She went from a full-fledged war hero to becoming a crazed psychopath who was enjoying Komaru's struggling. No matter how much she kicked her legs around Ikusaba continued maintaining her grip tighter and tighter. Panic only consumed her further as she began feeling lightheaded from her suffocation as her vision blurred.

"I...ku...I...c-can't..." This was horrifying. As Komaru's breathing became less and less frequent she saw the terrifying grin growing on Ikusaba's face. She was actually starting to grow a strange pink hue around her face from the enjoyment... No, not enjoyment. If her vision was more clear at the moment, Komaru would be able to tell easier, but she could almost swear Ikusaba was finding this... arousing?

"Kehehe...The look on you're face... That fear in your eye..." Ikusaba rubbed her head as arousal increased. "You're despairing, aren't you? You're afraid what'll happen if you die... Or what'll await you after you die... It's priceless. That face is absolutely priceless..."

"A...Ahh...Ik..." This was bad. Komaru's vision began to haze even further as her legs kicked less and less. She was getting light headed, losing strength in her own grip or the power in her legs. She was about to die.

 ***Beep-Beep-Beep***

 ***Beep-Beep-Beep***

 ***Beep-Beep-Beep-***

"Huh?" Ikusaba suddenly blinked to herself as if snapping out of a trance. Looking to her chest briefly, she seemed almost horrified gazing back to Komaru who almost went limp in her hand. "Oh shit!"

 ***thud***

"Ack-! Ouuugh ouugh..." Komaru dropped to the floor as she gasped for breath. After long last, what may have been seconds before her own death, Ikusaba finally found the mercy in herself to release her. She kept rubbing her neck soothingly as she tried to ease in the flow of air once more, some drool dripping from her mouth as she did.

She couldn't understand. What made Ikusaba suddenly decide to release her as if she just realized what she was doing? Better yet, what made her decide to start choking her in the first place? Thinking she could get the answers directly from the source Komaru lifted her head slightly, only to be met with an even more confusing sight before her as she saw the expression upon the soldier's face.

Panic.

After all this time, after all the Monokumas she managed to solo by herself, after seeming ready to kill Komaru without hesitation, only now does she begin to panic. She was scrambling all over herself across the numerous pouches and pockets across her vest frantically looking for something with the same look of fear in her eye as Komaru's. The fact this girl just showed any sign of fear even close to Komaru's was nothing less of shocking to her. Why was she panicking so much?

It was only then Komaru caught a brief glimpse at some blipping red light coming from under Ikusaba's white shirt. It was faint and verily hard to make out, but she knows it wasn't there a second ago.

"Whereisit!? Whereisit!? Whereisit!? Whereisit!? Whereisit!?" Ikusaba screamed to herself examining every single pocket carefully, the beeping sound becoming gradually louder as the seconds ticked by. Only by the time she reached the third set of pockets on the bottom right of her vest did she seemed overjoyed. "Aha! Finally!" She yelled, quickly taking out the contents as she dropped the vest itself.

To the other girl's curiosity, it appeared to be some orange capsule of prescription pills like for medication. It didn't have any labeling on it or indication of what the pills were. All Komaru could make out were the small red-colored pills Ikusaba quickly poured out after unscrewing the tab. Komaru must've seen her pour out at least three or four pills before gulping them all down in one swift motion, quickly popping the cap back on and stowing it in the pocket once more.

"Ok keep... keep calm..." Iksuaba mumbled to herself as she rubbed her forehead softly. "One...two... three... " She muttered taking in a deep breath. "One... Two... Three..." And exhaled. "Ok, happy thoughts, Ikusaba, happy thoughts..."

This was starting to creep Komaru out for a whole number of different reasons.

"Happy thoughts... Happy thoughts... Happy thoughts..." Komaru just watched the scene play out before her as she slowly got back to her feet. Like before Ikusaba's face began to flush slowly as she began hugging herself, only this time the expression seemed less disturbing and more... happy... and disturbing.

...

...

 _The scene grew white as the smell of soaps and bubble filled Ikusaba's mind. It was her favorite place to visit, to reminisce. The happy thoughts would always include an array of wonderful portrayals, to Ikusaba's imagination at least, and they would usually play out as followed._

 _She would hear the quiet moaning as the hot water splashed around them from the showerheads, the mirrors would be covered in vast amount of steam blocking anyone's view of the area, and there in the very center of it, would be Naegi. Her Naegi. The one with an exaggerative sexy body, seeing the sweat glistening as it poured down her bare skin, and that seductive smile on her face as she gestured Ikuasba over._

 _"Ikusaba... sweetheart..." Naegi moaned._

 _"Oh, Naegi... You know I love you sooo much, right?" Ikusaba moaned as she helped rinse the greasy soap from Naegi's body._

 _"Of course, Mukuro," Naegi would moan as she rubbed herself against Ikusaba's chest, "you're the only one for meee..."_

 _"But what about Kirigiri?" Ikusaba worried. "I mean she wants you t-"_

 _"Shhhh," Naegi shushed covering her mouth with her tasty finger, "you know there's nothing between us. Nothing could eeever come between me and you. I mean, Kirigiri doesn't even come close to your beauty Ikusaba. I mean, why would I ever want some purple-headed-full-of-herself-detective who doesn't even come close to you?"_

 _"Oh, Naegi..."_

 _"Oh, Ikusaba... Please say you'll be mine, say you'll never leave my side... "_

 _"Oh yes Naegi!" Ikusaba squealed as she could practically hear the squeaking caused from the friction of their bodies. "I'm always yours, I'll be whatever you want me to be..."_

 _"Oh, Ikusaba..."_

 _"Oh, Naegi..."_

 _"Naegi..."_

 _"Naegi..."_

...

...

"Naegi...Oh Naegi..." By now Ikusaba had yet to realize numerous things. One, she was now speaking out in the real world before anyone around her, including Komaru. Two, the beeping on her chest stopped around two minutes ago so there was no need to continue fantasizing or think happy thoughts at this point. Three, the added moans and gasps of joy as she drooled from her mouth were dripping down her chin at a rather impressive rate. Add a fourth dilemma of the several lewd gestures she was making alone with her body as she rubbed her arms while rubbing her legs together at the same time, and Ikusaba would look like the afterimage of someone who just had sex.

And on top of all of this, the only thing a completely red-faced Komaru could do was stand there silently and listen. Some bits here and there were mumbled under Ikusaba's voice, but she could still make out her sister's name at least a dozen times during Ikusaba's fantasizing. She didn't know what any of it was about or why this girl was suddenly going from some aroused state of choking Komaru to death to suddenly having an out-of-nowhere panic attack to daydreaming about Naegi.

Then again she wasn't sure she wanted to know either. This was supposed to be the very same girl that kidnapped her sister over two months ago. Yet the random mood swings and the strange behavior was starting to cause reasons for doubt to Komaru. After all, if this girl was supposedly under constant watch by the Future Foundation then how was she supposed to believe she could kidnapped her if her emotions swung so wildly without anyone noticing?

"U-Um...e-excuse me-" Komaru spoke quietly as she tried to Ikusaba's shoulder.

"Ah!" Ikusaba yelped the second she was tapped.

"Ah!" Komaru backed away slightly again out of fear of being attacked. At this, Ikusaba just blinked to herself briefly as she looked around the wrecked Monokumas around her. She knew she was the one responsible behind it, but everything after that slowly became hazy. After another few seconds she just blinked staring at Komaru once more. "Did... Did my thing just go off?"

"Y-Your thing?" Komaru repeated in confusion. For a split moment her eyes began widening when she thought Ikusaba was going to pull her top off, but it turned out she was revealing a small mechanical device on her chest.

The device itself was rather strange in all appearances and everything. For starters, it didn't look like some device she could just attach to herself like a wristwatch, a necklace, or anything else. The device looked like it was actually put into her chest, being about the half the diameter of a baseball in size. Along with the white outer ring that seemed to keep the device installed in place, there was a small dimmed red bulb right in the middle, the glass panel itself being a very soft shade of black, the same thing that Komaru figured she saw a while ago.

"Ugh, this thing gives me such a headache, I swear..." Ikusaba groaned rubbing her head once more. It took her several moments to realize Komaru was still staring at her. "What?"

"Y-You... You were trying to choke me a minute ago..." Komaru reminded uneasily. She wasn't sure if she was expecting an explanation or an apology but for now she would just settle with some sort of response.

"Huh?" A perplexed look of confusion filled Ikusaba's face momentarily before she frowned. 'Oh... Sorry..." She turned away as she gathered up her vest again along with the things she dropped. "I... I think I have some things to explain for the moment."

"Are you a robot or something?" It probably wasn't that out there of a guess. With all the life-sized mechanical teddy bears roaming the city and killing everyone nothing was impossible anymore.

"Thankfully not, or that Hacking Gun of yours would do wonders on my circuitry." She joked as she stood back up once more.

"..."

"...That was supposed to be a joke..." Ikusaba muttered. Komaru watched her as she casually walked over to her side before lying her back against the wall.

"Um... Sorry?" It was a strange feeling trying to apologize to some girl that tried to kill you a minute ago.

"Huff... Where do I begin?" She asked rubbing her eyes and crossing her arms.

The air was silent for a short while as Komaru just stared at the questionable girl. She didn't know if she wanted to continue the conversation with someone who tried choking her to death earlier and fantasized about her sister for whatever reason, or stick to the person who took down almost a dozen Monokumas by herself, not to mention the ones earlier from when Komaru landed. At the same time it was probably best not to ask. The last thing she wanted was a trip down memory lane and anger the person who just choked her.

"Well let's try to start over. My name is Mukuro Ikusaba, a mem..." She paused looking away. "A member... of the... Future Foundation." She wasn't aware of the fact she was stating details to someone who already knew that, or the fact she was lying. "And you're Komaru Naegi, right? Makoto Naegi's sister?"

There was some hesitation from Komaru before she replied. "Y-Yes... I'm her younger sister... A-And... you really work for the Future Foundation?"

"Yeah, the guys who were trying to clean up this city several days ago when the riots began." She turned her attention to the red sky. "You can already see how that went though, huh?"

"I-I heard...saw...that already." Komaru replied, recounting her occurrence with the helicopter to the soldier. "They were in the city trying to help evacuate me from the city, but then the Monokumas showed up..." Ikusaba got the gist of it as she trailed off.

"I see..." Komaru tensed herself as Ikusaba gave her a questionable look. It wasn't entirely threatening mind you, but she couldn't afford to answer questions what would end with her on the opposite end of a gun. "That about sums up my reasoning for being here, too. I was supposed to help escort you with the helicopter, but I ended up getting separated with the other members when the riots began. Did they tell you anything about what's going on?"

"J-Just... Just about what happened during my imprisonment and everything..." She still recalled the images in her memory from the Monokuma that attacked her. How it made her believe someone was there to save her, how it lead to the events of the plane, and her last encounter with the children putting everyone through this murderous game. "I... I almost wish I was just locked up again, really..."

"Hmph, yeah. Those apartments are pretty shallow and all... Least by the looks of it they kept ya fell fed, right?" Ikusaba commented trying to cheer her up.

"Hmm... yeah..." The brief smile that started growing on Komaru's face was quickly replaced with realization at the former girl's words. "W-Wait, how did you know I was in an apartment?"

"H-Huh- oh!" She looked away quickly at this. "W-Well that's what we were told, of course. I mean, we- they came to rescue you, right?" She replied.

"Oh yeah..." Despite the words she returned, she still wasn't easy about the comment. There was something wrong with Ikusaba's comment despite the obvious proof she provided with her. She just didn't know what.

"That also reminds me," Ikusaba looked back with a more personal look of concern on her face, "did the Future Foundation people... Did they tell you anything else?"

"Eh-..." Komaru panicked inside her mind despite the calm look she was trying to maintain. She could already tell Ikusaba was a better read of character than her and could kill her in an instant. She still didn't know if she could trust this girl enough to admit she knows of the kidnapping, or the relationship she has with her sister. "Umm..."

She needed to think fast. Ikusaba already went from leaning casually on the wall to looking at her skeptically as she placed her hands at her hip. She couldn't just say nothing at this point, Ikusaba already knew something was up. Her best bet at this point was to give her any sort of answer. "Y-Yes, they did!"

"Oh?" The pressure Ikusaba was exerting steadily became heavier with each passing second. "And what did they tell you?"

"T-That... That Junko Enoshima," she continued looking away from Ikusaba, missing the nanosecond twitch given in her eyes, "was the one who destroyed the rest of the world two years back... And she somehow came back to life after three months."

"Oh... I see..." Komaru's body eased with relief as she saw Ikusaba turn away once more with a slight frown. She definitely expected some form of answer like that although it appeared to hurt her more than the truth, possibly. Then again the sister of the Ultimate Despair so it wasn't unexpected either. "Y-Yeah, that sounds about right... She put your sister, me, and all our friends into a murderous Killing Game where we had to kill each other to get out, or be forced to live the rest of our lives in that school."

"T-That's horrible!" Komaru exclaimed. She knew bits and pieces here and there based on what the Future Foundation told them but not the details like how they would be forced to live inside a school the rest of their lives.

"Yeah...It was..." Ikusaba took a moment to crouch to the ground briefly, apparently grabbing something Komaru couldn't see. "Here."

"Huh?" She watched as Ikusaba dropped several large chips into her hand. They looked like the same ones she used to install the Break command on her gun, but much larger, at least the size of her thumb. Curiously enough, they also appeared to have some sort of barcode on the face of them like an item at the store. They also appeared to be the same color of blue like her energy blasts from the Hacking Gun, "What is it?"

"Ammo." Ikusaba stated bluntly.

"Ammo?" She wasn't against the idea these weird chip things were ammunition or something, but how the heck were these weird shaped things supposed to be ammo? Aside from the small slots for the different weapon mods, there wasn't any opening or slots for her to put the chips in. "How am I supposed to use this as ammo?"

"There's a scanner under the hilt of the Hacking Gun," Ikusaba pointed out, "just scan the bar codes under the hilt, it'll restore the ammo right away."

"Hmm..." Sure enough, as Iksusaba instructed, there was a brief beeping sound as Komaru scanned one of the chips under the hilt. Like Ikusaba said the hud of the Hacking Gun displayed five additional pieces of ammo. "That's amazing... Wait how does scanning a chip make more ammo in my Hacking Gun?"

"Beats me. You'll have to ask Finny about that, he's the one who developed them." Ikusaba said with a roll of her eyes.

"Finny?" Komaru wondered as she used three more chips to restore more ammo.

"Yeah, fat-to-skinny, Yamada." Ikusaba clarified. "Which reminds me didn't he go to save you back at the apartments? Where is he?"

"Oh... Yamada..." Ikusaba didn't question the small frown growing on Komaru's face.

She was helpless and terrified when the Monokuma attacked, but was saved by Yamada and his allies upon arriving from the elevator. While it was nothing short of great timing and a miracle, she was still relieved that someone had came to save her, especially if they were on their way to bust her out of the room entirely. And how did she repay him? Sadly to her regret, even though he gave her a Hacking Gun, he pulled her into the elevator and sent her down while he kept the Monokumas from messing with the elevator themselves.

It wasn't enough to distract her from the situation, at least the few hours following that that she's been awake, but it did make her feel a little guilty leaving him all alone to fend off dozens of Monokumas by himself.

"He saved me when a Monokuma was about to kill me, but when more started showing up he sent me on the elevator while he held them off." She explained.

"Huff, yeah, sounds like Finny all right." Ikusaba said scratching her head. "He was always a bit of a nut, but you shouldn't worry too much, I'm sure he's fine." She didn't seem too worried about it as she started reloading her own ammo into her numerous guns.

To be honest it felt a little weird just standing there in silence to the girl who just tried to kill her. She was definitely grateful she saved her life shortly beforehand but it kind of loses all merit when you try to kill the same person several minutes later. What was she supposed to say about the mysterious one girl army before her? Or did she even want to risk asking anything that would possibly anger her?

"So... Outta curiosity, how did you know I was gonna land here?" Komaru asked curiously.

"What?" Even Komaru couldn't help but notice the slight hiccup at that while she was reloading her guns.

"I mean you just being here... How did you find me so fast?"

"O-Oh, that? Well, I just saw the parachute and all, and thought maybe it was a supply drop." Ikusaba explained.

"Uh huh..." She almost jumped at the irritant look Ikusaba suddenly gave her.

"Do you doubt me?"

"N-No, of course not!" Komaru replied quickly shaking her head and hands. "I-I just found the timing convenient and all, you know? Either way I'm thankful you managed to save me all the same." She said with a slight bow. "So, you ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah lead the way." Iksuaba said with a small smile.

"Huh?" Ikusaba became just as confused at the confused expression growing on Komaru's face.

"What?"

"What do you mean lead the way? I'm following you." Komaru declared.

"What!?" Ikusaba seemed more shocked at the idea than she did surprise. "What makes you think I'm leading you? You're the one leading the way."

"Huh?" That didn't make the slightest amount of sense to Komaru. Ikusaba was strong, fast, had no sense of fear, took down more Monokumas out of everyone she's seen come across them, has a large array of weaponry on hold, knows more about the details that were going on here, the fact she was Junko's sister meant she could have more information about everything going on here and know what to expect, knew more about weaponry and military tactics, and, in the long run, stood a much better chance of getting them both out of this alive than herself. "Why am I leading? You're the professional here."

"Yeah but-!" Ikusaba's expression slowly switched to concern as she nibbled on the tip of her thumbnail. By now Komaru could tell there were a lot of secrets coming from this girl that she either couldn't or wouldn't reveal to her yet. Every time she had some personal issue with anything said she would go silent for a short while and then come up with something to say. Granted she did believe Ikusaba was telling her the truths in the matter, but it concerned her what details she was either leaving out or refusing to tell her. "I... I can't be the one leading you in this case."

"Why not?" Komaru asked worried. She had absolutely no interest being the leader of the two when she could barely defend herself.

"Because I..." For the first time since meeting her Ikusaba had a face filled with worry. "You know how I was choking you awhile ago?"

Komaru's own throat practically tingled to respond. She was just seconds away from being killed by the woman in front of her so forgetting something so eventful would've been rather challenging. "Y-Yeah..."

"Well I... I kind of have a condition... I can't really handle the stress of this place that well while fighting at the same time..." She almost seemed embarrassed as she said this.

"What are you talking about? You took down those Monokumas like a real superhero!" Komaru commented. No matter how scared this girl made her, she could never get over the awesome fight she pulled off right before her eyes.

"Y-Yeah but... I... I can't really control myself if too many things are happening at once." She explained. "If any other emotions come up... or the stress starts to go wild, I sort of... snap..."

"Snap?" Komaru wondered to herself at this. This girl has numerous emotions running through her head as well as elite fighting skills that could take down who knows how many Monokumas at once. There was only one logical conclusion she could come to. "Do you have a split personality or something?"

"What? No! Why would you even think that?" She couldn't tell if Ikusaba was serious about the question herself but she could understand some of her disbelief.

"W-Well, I'm just saying, it would make a little bit of sense." Komaru chuckled nervously while scratching her cheek. "I mean first you're scary, then you're mean, then you're going all commando on those things. Immediately after you're trying to choke me to death and then now you're just kind of timid and... now."

"What exactly are you referring to as now...?" Komaru's sweat poured a little from her forehead as she saw the irritated twitch going on with Ikusaba's right eye.

"Ummm n-nothing!" She quickly yelped.

"That would probably make less sense in the long run. I mean who would team up a young girl with some sort of psychopath with a split personality? You might as well put together a small kitten with a killer shark!"

"Eh heh... r-right... But I don't get why you can't lead the way. I mean you're the Ultimate Soldier, aren't you?"

That was a mistake. She just said something she shouldn't have and the look Ikusaba was giving her confirmed that. Only now did Komaru realize not once through this conversation did Ikusaba say anything about her status as the Ultimate Soldier, she only stated her name as Mukuro Ikusaba and a member of the Future Foundation. Not once though did she state her profession as a soldier or how that was her talent. Said soldier leaning in towards her with her arms crossed wasn't entirely helping her nerves either.

"How exactly did you know I'm the Ultimate Soldier?" She asked suspiciously. She needed to say something. Something right on the spot that would get Ikusaba's suspicions off her back all at once. If she found out Komaru lied about knowing anything about her then there was no telling what Ikusaba would possibly do, or would.

"I-I mean I umm..." Every second that ticked by raised Ikusaba's suspicions only further along with her fear. Thankfully an obvious solution came to her a single second before Ikusaba could say something again. "I-I mean just from seeing you, you're like the ultimate soldier you know? Like a super, ultimate, mega soldier and all." She lied.

Much to Ikusaba's discomfort she had no choice but to accept the comment for now. For one, she couldn't pass off the possibility she was just referring to her based on everything she saw. Two, she couldn't rack Komaru's nerves anymore than she had to. She needed Komaru to get through this situation for both her own sake and Naegi's. If she kept pressing on every single thing that came out of Komaru's mouth there would be no end to how much of Komaru's crying she'd have to put up with. And that would be worse for Ikusaba's case given her... issues.

Still, this girl was starting to become questionable to her. She knew something she wasn't telling Ikusaba almost as much as Ikusaba was doing to her. At the very least she would need to keep an eye on this girl and check in on what she knew when the time was right.

"I see..." Ikusaba mumbled passing off the comment for now. "But I still can't help you. I get a little... emotional when I'm surrounded by a lot of death and desp... sadness... and I get a bit... crazy..."

"I-I see..." She could see where she was getting at, given her recent episode just now. "B-But it's still ok, right? I-I mean you snapped out of it before it was too late. So... a-as long as you take it easy with deep breaths and-!" Komaru's eyes flashed open before she finished that sentence, face overcoming with a large blush. She almost forgot about how immediately following this girl snapping out of it she started having these weird fantasies about her own sister. While she wouldn't mind it if she was just fantasizing, granted she now needed to figure out what sort of "relationship" Ikusaba had with her sister, it was a bit disturbing when Ikusaba kept replaying the fantasy out loud while talking to herself.

"It's not just that though... "Ikusaba revealed the weird device on her chest once again. "This thing is sort of like an emotional monitor or something, it measures out my stress levels and some crap in case I go off the deep end or something. I don't know the full details, the stupid doctor didn't make everything clear. But it'll go off if I start displaying that crazy side of myself for too long."

"Y-Yeah, but you still came out of it, so-"

"I"m not finished yet." Ikusaba interrupted quickly. "If my emotional state goes off for too long, this thing will trigger an alarm, which you heard."

"Yeah..." Komaru was wondering to herself where she was going with all of this.

"But if I continue to display the emotions for too long after, and I don't calm down from it," she shot a look of absolute dread and seriousness straight at Komaru, "it'll release an electrical shock that'll kill me."

Now everything was clear to Komaru as her face slowly lost color. It explained numerous things, especially Ikusaba's seeming reluctance to explain anything about herself or why she wouldn't lead them. The emotional state she displayed awhile ago was definitely terrifying, and of course life-threatening, but if she could manage those emotions just fine then she wouldn't need to worry about getting out of the city as long as someone as strong as Ikusaba, a fully-armed soldier at that, was leading them.

Only now did everything make sense between her weird behavior and Ikusaba's strange behavior. Aside from the fact if she did go off the deep end once more and try to kill Ikusaba, if Ikusaba tried to lead them she would literally be walking the tight rope of her own demise. She would need to keep her emotions in check since her life literally depended on it, and if she was actually leading them like Komaru wished, she wouldn't have time to calm herself down if she lost control.

Not to mention the Monokumas wouldn't help in that regard. She could perfectly picture the scenario, seeing Ikusaba leading them triumphantly through the city while trying to find a way out, then suddenly getting ambushed by dozens of more Monokumas. While at first she has the advantage, the stress of the situation would build up too much until her device thing went off. But, much to their terror, they couldn't focus on it at all. They would either be running away from or gunning the Monokumas as they try to hold them off, and that's provided she wasn't trying to kill her at that moment, yet have not even a moment to herself to relax to stop her device from killing her.

Then, it would happen. Whether it was a viewable great bolt of lightning that would shoot through her heart, or a simple electrical shock from the device itself, it would electrocute Ikusaba. And no matter how long Ikusaba was going insane or if she was trying to calm herself down at the last second, it would continue to go off and eventually kill her, leaving Komaru all alone within the city until the Monokumas eventually killed her too.

There was no way she could lead them.

"I... I guess I understand..." Komaru stated, much to her dismay.

"I-It's not as bad as you think, though." Iksuaba commented, trying to sound somewhat positive. "It uses sensors to monitor my heart rating and stress levels. Whenever I switch into... that... my levels completely change. But depending on how far my emotions go determine how strong the shock will be. So even if I'm stuck in it for too long, there's a chance the shock won't be enough to kill me as long as I continue bringing it down. So I can at least jump in if you need a quick hand at the last second, not that it should be tested indefinitely, but I can still save your life if I'm fast enough."

"But how were you surviving all this time, then?" Komaru asked with confusion. "If you were in the city when the Future Foundation came to save me, weren't you already surrounded with so much death and sadness when the riots began?"

"Oh, that? It wasn't that hard," Ikusaba casually shrugged off, "I stayed off the streets for the most part. I could handle my emotions when dealing with the occasional bucket o' bolts, but barely ever went outside because of all this. I only traveled here when I saw your parachute landing. Crossing the street alone was nothing short of a miracle with everything I saw."

That put Komaru's nerves on edge. Come to think of it she had been asleep for two whole days according to what the Servant said. She hadn't even considered how the rest of the city was up to this point until Ikusaba mentioned it. Was there even anyone else still alive? Was everyone but the two of them who weren't kids dead?

She didn't even want to imagine how the city streets looked like if they were enough to disturb Ikusaba so much.

"Henceforth, you need to be the one leading us." Ikusaba declared.

"B-But I... " Komaru looked away with uncertainty as she looked at the weapon in her hands again. She could still recall the memory easily no matter how soon it happened.

 ***Flashback Several Minutes Ago...***

 _From behind the Ventilation Ikusaba continued to watch the scene unfold, watching the trembling girl. She needed to know what she was dealing with here. Was Komaru useful or was she weak? Could she handle her own or would Ikusaba be forced to play babysitter through the entirety events? She was the sister of the Ultimate Hope after all so there was no telling if she could hold her own, if there was some form of secret talent Komaru had that kept her alive for as long as she did or something else? Surely this test was going to be the proof she needed!_

 _"Ahhhhh!"_

 _Or maybe not. Komaru was petrified with fear, summoning whatever strength she needed to just to draw her gun out. Ikusaba couldn't even believe her eyes. She wasn't shooting like some heroine from a fairytale or some anime, she was just shooting for dear life. Granted her shots were connecting a few times here and there, and she did manage to destroy at least three Monokuma herself which was a rather promising sign, but she was doing everything wrong._

 _She must've wasted at least half her animation as most of the shots that even did connect with the targets she aimed at the bellies or limbs. To her credit she was still lying down and scooting back at the same time but it was still frustrating to watch for the soldier. She wasn't even focusing on one at a time, she was shooting each of them randomly, or at least whichever ones were a foot closer than the rest._

 _And then it happened._

 _ ***click***_

 _ ***click***_

 _ ***click***_

 _"Oh no..." Komaru panicked as she saw the hud of the Hacking Gun after a minute of firing._

 ***Flashback End***

"I can't lead us... I'm sorry." Ikusaba just sighed at this.

"If you're talking about before, you can't let that hold you over you." Ikusaba assured. "Look, that was my bad, alright? I seriously shouldn't have just thrown you out there like that, I was just a little... off, as you saw. But I promise you'll get the hang of it, trust me."

Komaru couldn't help but smile a little at this. She could understand the fellow soldier was trying to cheer her up, even if she didn't know if she could trust her completely. And to be fair she did save her life at least twice, even if she was the cause of one of those disasters and the followup murder attempt. She was completely unpredictable to Komaru, and she didn't know what she needed to expect from this point forward, but at least now she had a companion to help her through it... somewhat.

"Well... I guess I can try." Komaru tried being a little bit more optimistic.

"That's the spirit!" Ikusaba replied with a nod. "Now why don't we start from getting off the roof? Head along downstairs, I'm gonna look around from the rooftop to get my bearings." She said looking around. "I might be able to figure out where we should go if look I see the other buildings."

"Mh hm, okay." Komaru replied with a short nod. "And... thanks, for coming to help me." She said while making her way down the entryway stairs.

The minute she had left, the once calm, peaceful smile Ikusaba had on her face dropped fully to a look of irritation, disgust, and annoyance. Overall, she didn't seem to have a single care in her body. The only thing she did at that point was walk a short distance away from the entryway while pulling out a cellphone.

 ***ring***

 ***ring***

 ***ring***

"Hello?" A familiar voice of the Servant spoke from her phone. "Oh hey, it's you! I haven't heard from ya since our last conversation. How's it going?"

"Shut it." Ikusaba said firmly.

"Ah, about that good, huh? I take it you found the package, then?"

"No, I just miss the irritating sound of your voice, what do you think!?"

"Gee, really? I never trusted myself to have such a gifted voice..." He joked.

"Knock it off." Ikusaba grumbled rubbing her forehead. "Anyway, I found her just like you said. What now?"

"And now, we play the game." Ikusaba regretted asking such an obvious question. Nothing was ever so simple when it came to that guy, much to her annoyance. While she did expect she would be needed to play along longer than he stated, she still found it more annoying to find out only AFTER meeting her in person. "So, what cha think of the sister of the infamous Hope?"

"She's a whiney little bitch, I can say that much. She can't even shoot around to save her own life, she's a pain!" She replied with a roll of her eyes.

"Harsh, but I fondly remember how Naegi herself was usually sheepish at times, wasn't she?" For the first time since her introduction, she had an actual frown of sadness. And not a fake one either.

"Naegi's not like her, she's-"

"Special?" The Servant guessed with a grin she could feel through the phone. "That's the Ultimate Hope for ya. Man I wish I could've been there when I saw her grand rise. Just picturing that Hope inside her burning brightly when she stood up to Junko, it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it."

"Well keep your geese to yourself. I'm also sure she's hiding something I don't know about. Any idea?"

"Sorry, couldn't tell ya even if I knew. Didn't seem to mention anything on my end of things... although to be fair, we didn't really get time to catch up on life stories. By the way how did you convince her that she was the leader?"

"I had to mention the chest thing, and my whole crazy side she should be aware of."

"Well it's not like it's not true, right? You go too deep and lose your hope, and we'll all be saying game over. She can't do this without ya after all."

"Yeah much to my annoyance. Speaking of which, is Finny with ya?"

"You mean that anime guy or something you mentioned? Nah, he got away just fine. So we had to improvise an alternative method of blackmail. We can't have the Future Foundation storming in here with an army, after all." Ikusaba was actually caught by surprise by this.

"Improvise? What did you-" Ikusaba suddenly froze with fear. "What did you do to Naegi?"

"Relax, we didn't do anything to her. Although... we did at least make public to the Foundation why it would be in their best interest to stay away."

"WHAT did you do?" Ikusaba repeated angrily.

"I told ya, we didn't do anything different to her. We just informed them what would happen if they interfered. Trust me, they wouldn't risk it anymore than I would to save the Ultimate Hope."

"And you're not going to even tell me what that thing was, are you?" She assumed.

"Unfortunately so. Can't be giving too many spoilers when your sister's listening, right?"

"She's there with you!?" Ikusaba couldn't believe how stupid the Servant was being all of a sudden! Why the heck would he answer a call with the one person they needed to avoid in the same area!? His phone should've been on vibrate too of all things.

"Nah, not quite." Ikusaba really wished she could punch him in the dick right now. "But I wouldn't be too surprised if she was listening one way or another."

Outside of Ikusaba's attention, as her focus was solely on the phone call in front of her, she didn't notice. She had no mind or attention to give to the small camera at the edge of the entryway that was slowly blinking red indicating it was on. Obviously with everything that's happened up to this point, nearly any form of electricity would be off right now for most of the buildings, provided they didn't have any backup generators like this hospital. Even if they did though, there would still need to be someone using the cameras for them to do anything.

Just like the Pink-haired girl currently watching with a sly smile.

"Whatever. Anyway I'm just letting you know I found her. Anything else I need to know before we continue?"

"Not really. Should warn you of two things though. First off, your sis-"

"Not my sis!" Ikusaba quickly interrupted.

"Sorry, sorry. _Not your sis_ found the Hacking Gun on her during introductions, despite my best attempts to keep her from finding out."

"Fucking... She couldn't even keep a stupid gun hidden on herself?" Ikusaba grumbled.

"To be fair, there was doubtfully any way to keep her from finding out. You know how good she is."

"Well what are you getting at anyway?"

"My point is she decided to make the game _harder_ if she can, so you might have your work cut out for you. And before you ask, no I don't know entirely how."

"I doubt you'd tell me anyway or that'd just make this stupid thing too easy, right?"

"Aww ya caught me. Well done Ikusaba, well done."

"Ugh, just get on with your other warning."

"Oh, that? That's more simple and troublesome. The other issue is this is gonna be our last communication with each other."

"Why?"

"Sorry, spoils." He reminded.

"Fine, but I want to get this last part out." Ikusaba informed, increasing the Servant's attention. "If anything happens to Naegi while I keep my end of the deal, or if you or that fucking fake backstab me in any way, I swear to god my face will be the last thing you ever see."

"I wouldn't expect it any other way. And before you likely destroy your phone, allow me to say two little things, if you will."

"What?"

"Good Luck."

 ***click***

"Mmmh..." Ikusaba gruffed to herself as she threw her phone on the ground before crushing it under her heels. Looking back to the sky she couldn't help but look a little saddened. This all happened because of her, she was sure of it. No matter how much she wishes she could, she couldn't go back to rewrite how things played out that day. She still won't forget the last thing Naegi said before she disappeared.

 _"I hate you, both of you! You're nothing but traitors!" Naegi shouted angrily before running off in tears._

 _"Naegi!"_

It still made Ikusaba tear up every time she heard those words in her mind. She needed to do this, no matter how hard it was going to be for her. It wasn't just the only way she could expect Naegi to forgive her, it was the only way she was going to forgive herself. She needed to help this whiney brat through the city no matter how hard it was going to be.

Wiping away the tears she sniffled once to herself before straightening herself out, making her way downstairs once more. She wasn't going to let anyone get between her or her Naegi. She was going to kill any Monokumas that came her way, she would destroy the Warriors of Hope, and she had no problems killing her own sister a hundred times over even if she was the real Junko. Nothing was going to stop the warrior with a purpose from saving the one true person she loved, and she wasn't going to let anyone stand in her way or ruin her chances of reuniting with Naegi.

Not even Komaru herself...

...

...

...

 ** _A/N: Annnnd I think that's a good place to end off ^^ Hooftah! Sorry for the minor delay + jumbled ending towards the latter half of the fic guys, got work building up and more school stuff going on. And if I'm going to be focusing on those more, I need to devote less time (sadly) to my fanfics. But with that said, I am still enjoying the writing :P And fortunately, from this point on, I can devote less (granted I still need some) time to paying attention to the way the game, which is another reason this is taking so long: i need to go by the game XP Even if I don't follow the dialogues up to this point as 100% as accurately, I still need to do so for the paths and locations the girls visit :/ Mind you some places will be different and entirely new, but still._**

 ** _And for those who've noticed, you might've noticed i've taken snipets and shots at the game itself and made it look like I'm making fun of the game in certain aspects and whatnot. Well first off those thinkers are next on Ikusaba's list ^^ CAUSE I LOVE THIS FREAKING GAME T_T! Seriously, I love games where you start off as weak sheepish characters and build them up into grand heroes throughout the story, and Another Episode does that perfectly :P! Anytime it does look like I'm poking fun at the game, I'm just making call backs to some things and explaining parts i thought were never explained in the game (like why the heck didn't togami GO WITH KOMARU XD?!)_**

 ** _Also, I'll be getting to work on starting up a club on deviantart for this gender-bent Universe. I'll be posting my chapters up there too, and if you're interested in being part of the club, feel free to join and even do a bit of art in the galleries if you're interested :P!_**

 ** _Till the next chapter guys, take care ^^!_**


	5. The Dance of Death

**_A/N: Whohoo folks, we finally get to our introduction of our first remnants of despair (technically 2nd/3rd if you count Teruteru from Chapter 2). I will like to inform at this point I have yet to watch Danganronpa 3 past and future arcs past the first eps cause I wanted to have a good source to maintain my mojo and energy needed to write Danganronpa tics. On top of that, I wanted to wait till I finished far enough in this series that i could catch up to Danganronpa 3 in terms of fan fiction universe, that way I could enjoy that and come up with the story at the same time. But with that said, whatever details they give about the remnants of despair in that series may, or most likely are, going to be completely different from what I have intended here- or at least in terms of appearance since we (I think) don't see them after the Despair-Inducing incident occurs save for a small clip of the opening of the first ep of the future episode._**

 ** _As such, my description of them in numerous factors from behavior and appearance may most likely be completely different. But all the same, I'm still looking forward to writing this chapter as get upon our first confrontation._**

 ** _So, enjoy ^^!_**

...

...

...

 **Journal Entry #5:**

 **Dear Mr. D,**

 **Today my best friend got sick, so we couldn't play any more of our games for the rest of the day. Sometimes I wonder if people get sick on purpose or if some evil wizard is secretly plotting against best friends to keep them from playing their games any longer! Of course if there were really wizards, that would be so cool! I wonder if they can make a dragon or a bunny or maybe even a bunny dragon! That would be so cool and cute all at the same time! But if they did, would that bunny dragon ever find love..? I wonder...**

...

...

"Alright, pay attention class." Junko instructed as she continued to write upon the white board. "Now, if three demons have two hands each and those hands all have 27 bones naturally-"

This was the usual meeting they had almost every other day. At least once a day, for one hour straight, Junko would go into her teacherly persona and teach the Warriors of Hope numerous things, such as how long can a demon hold their breath under water, or how much blood does the average demon body have. Or, one of their personal favorites, what sort of torture and pain could they inflict on the demon that would be the most excruciating and deserved of said demon. Of course they still had some of the other typical school studies such as math, English, etc., whatever Big Sis Junko decided to teach them at the time. Overall, it was mostly by random chance if she was going to teach them anything fun.

Like any school setting, aside from her teacherly appearance with the glasses and clipboard she had of numerous papers with different grades and details about different things. In the middle of the large room the Warriors of Hope always gathered at, there sat the five typical kids at a small round blue table, just big enough space for each of them with pillows to sit on. In the middle of said table was a wide assortment of goodies such as cookies and brownies, of which Jataro and Masaru were the only ones eating at the moment.

As it could be expected from the kids themselves, each of them were taking this study session in different ways. Masaru, the headstrong leader of the Warriors of Hope was more or less bored out of his mind. The only time he paid any and all attention was when it came to something involving robots or killing demons. Otherwise he was just busy eating Monaca's and Big Sis' treats. Jataro was doing his best to pay attention, but every time he came about halfway through the lesson he kept getting sidetracked by something before forgetting what he was on or where along with the assignments. Then there was the pink hyper Kotoko of the group, who was a mix of the two. She liked listening to anything and everything that came from Monaca's and Big Sis' mouth, but as opposed to Jataro who at least tried to write down half the things he heard, Kotoko was content with doodling different cute animals in her papers, only glancing up at Big Sis every now and then to follow along with what she was saying.

That about summed up the students who were paying minimal attention.

The only two paying full fledged attention was Nagisa, the Ultimate Li'l Social Studies, and Monaca, the Ultimate Li'l Homeroom. Like any elite student, Nagisa was at a perfect mix between paying attention to Junko's lessons and taking notes on every detail that she said. He didn't care how minuscule or unimportant the words were, he literally copied each and every thing she talked about, save for if she was mentioning something off topic. And as far as Monaca went, she innocently and casually listened to everything Big Sis told her. Granted she didn't write anything despite Junko placing her gently at the table, but she enjoyed listening to each and every little thing she heard, as well as enjoying the sight of her friends eating her cookies and brownies.

"Aww man, this sucks..." Masaru murmured lying his head on the table.

"Quit moping and pay attention, Masaru!" Nagisa muttered back to him.

"But why do we have to do this anyway? I thought we agreed no more stupid schools once the adults were gone." He asked eating another cookie.

"Education is still important, Masaru." Monaca commented sweetly. "We have to teach ourselves when we kill all the demons off."

"Besides, we don't see Big Sis that often now that we're running this game." Kotoko reminded as she drew another cute bunny.

"I know, I know, but it's just sooooooo booooriiiiiiing..." The self-appointed leader whined again.

"Nagisa," Junko suddenly called out," if you were to force the demons to cut off one finger in particular from both their hands, what would be the most fitting appendage to remove?"

"Huh? Oh, um..." Naegi rubbed his chin as he thought for a moment. He would've had an answer on the spot if the other kids didn't distract him. "It depends on what sort of example you want to make. If you want to make them suffer for insulting you, the middle finger would be appropriate and ironic. If you wanted to make them incapable of doing anything though for the rest of their lives, their thumbs would be your best bet."

"Very good, Nagisa, as always." Junko nodded with a smile as she graded him on her checklist. Nagisa couldn't help but blush from this and the sincere smile Monaca was giving him.

"Heh heh... thanks..."

"Teacher's pet..." Masaru mumbled.

"Masaru!"

"Ack-!" Masaru nearly jumped to his feet as Junko called him over next. "Y-Yes?"

"Perhaps you'd like to enlighten us in a little test?" She suggested as she clicked on a remote she pulled from her chest.

The group looked around as the room dimmed and a verily long displayer descended from the ceiling to the middle of the table. In a few short seconds the students watched the images come to life as it showed Ikusaba and Komaru walking through a hallway of the building they were in. Just seeing the demons alone were enough to sicken the Warriors of Hope, but what surprised most of them was the sight of the second demon along with Komaru. There wasn't any mention of another demon taking part in this game, at least not teamed up with Komaru to be entirely accurate.

"Hey, she's cheating again!" Masaru yelled angrily jumping to his feet.

"She sure does have a lot of guns, Big Sis." Jataro commented scratching the back of his head.

"If that demon has someone dangerous looking as that by her side, it may be hard to successfully hunt her." Nagisa noted. Even now he was writing down details and statistics on the off chance this was going to be an actual lesson. After all, they still had another 23 minutes of class.

"Don't let her worry you kids." Junko began rummaging through her papers once more. "Despite her appearance, she shouldn't be interfering too much with the Demon's goal personally. But at the same time we can't let this transgression go unnoticed. She's cheated not once but twice at this point."

"Grrr forget the stupid arena, I'm getting my robot and tearing down that building right now!" Masaru declared marching to the door.

"MASARU!" Junko's wrathful voice echoed through the room as she yelled, causing most of the Warriors of Hope to jump from fright, especially Masaru who froze mid-step. Even Monaca was a little jumbled by the sudden shout. However just as quickly as she shouted in rage, her expression changed to one of peace and calm by the time Masaru looked back nervously again. "Heh heh, you don't need to worry about them, leave the robot thing where he's at."

"B-But Big Sis..." The leader was timid as he thought about arguing to this. He didn't want cheating demons playing their game, but he didn't want to incur Big Sis' anger any further. "We can't let a demon go around cheating like her! What if more demons get the same idea!?"

"Not to worry, my brave little leader." Junko replied casually as she walked over. "I already have people suited for this job. And I think it's only appropriate our leader gets the first pick." She declared as she handed him several pictures.

"Huh?" Masaru eyed the pictures she handed him curiously, rummaging through them with a mix of wonder and confusion. "What are these, more demons? Why would you want to send more stupid demons to a demon that cheats?"

"What?" Junko almost immediately became heartbroken as she collapsed to her knees and hands. "B-But..." She paused dramatically as she sniffled. "But those are Big Sis' best friends. So if you think they're demons then... sniff... do you think I'm a demon too?"

"Masaru, how could you be so mean!" Kotoko yelled angrily as she ran over to pull his ear.

"It's ok Big Sis, honest!" Jataro tried to comfort. "You can use a fly swatter again to hit me if it makes you feel better."

"That... really might have been a bit harsh, Masaru... " Even Nagisa couldn't help but feel sorry for his Big Sis, seeing her sniffle in sadness where she was.

"W-Wait wait! You got it all wrong!" Masaru yelped as Kotoko let go of his ear. "I-I-I mean stupid as in... stupid cool! These are awesome looking de- friends of yours, Big Sis!" Masaru said apologizing. It was only then did the other three begin looking at the numerous pictures Junko handed him. They were a rather wide assortment of pictures from one person to the next, nearly fourteen of them. Each of them had a very disturbing look to each of them, almost what an actual demon would look like, but if they were Big Sis' best friends then they must've been great not-demons! Everyone was in agreement as they saw the numerous men and women among the pictures.

Strangely enough, some of them had different writing on them compared to others, and at least all of them had a number written on them. Several of them had the number one with a circle around it in the corner, while a few less had two, and then a three. Only one single picture out of them all had a star mark on it compared to the rest, but they could barely make out who that guy was or what since most of the image was darkened. And among all of them, only one of them had a pink X plastered on the front of them, some strange looking friend of Junko's that was dressed as a chef.

"What's the deal with this fat one with the X on him?" Masaru asked curiously.

"Eh, he already tried to kill that stupid demon but she got away from him even before she teamed up so I found him useless." Junko commented wiping her tearless eyes.

"Hmm... well... "Masaru had to think carefully. He didn't entirely know what the numbers met, and he couldn't figure out who or what the strange one in darkness was, so he wanted to pick an answer that would make Big Sis very happy once again. "Mmh... If I had to go with a choice... I'd pick these two." Masaru decided, handing back two of the pictures.

"Masaru! You can't pick two at once!" Kotoko pouted puffing out her cheeks.

"Well I'm just trying to make Big Sis happy again! Besides for some reason these two seem fitting."

"Yeah but-!"

"Upupupu, this is perfect!" Junko declared with excitement, springing to her feet immediately with joy. Masaru nearly jumped again as Junko through her arm around his neck, rubbing his head with a cheeky grin. "That's my wonderful leader for us! You always know what to do!"

"Ah-! Hahaha! Ack! Sis, ok ok! I get it!" He couldn't help but switch between laughing and yelping every few moments he had. The noogie she was giving him had a perfect mix between ticking him somewhat and making his head sore with each passing second. All the same the other kids couldn't help but laugh at the fun the two were having, especially seeing how quickly Big Sis was to get back to her feet with joy.

At the same time, Monaca just casually hummed to herself as she watched the monitors closely. Poor little Komaru thought she had every single thing about this game thought out. Just find an exit to their game, possibly find Naegi along the way, and get out of this game alive with them altogether. Oh how stupid Monaca saw her as as she grabbed another cookie from the plate in the middle. That would probably be the best way Monaca would declare Komaru as: a cookie.

First, they soften them up and roll them on a tray full of little pieces of dough, adding a hard candy to them to make them even more irresistible and tasty. Then, after roasting them alive so their skin would harden to a crisp, sometimes a little extra in case the baker was feeling lazy, take them out and let them cool so they can relax for a little bit before being consumed by an abyss, a person's mouth in some cases, pure despair in this case. Sometimes they may even throw in some milk to add to the taste, just to soften up a cookie before consuming.

Yet no matter what sort of cookie it was or how much milk you drowned them in, they always had the same thing in common as the cookie Monaca snapped in front of herself while watching Komaru.

They always break.

...

...

...

"Oh my god..." Komaru gulped to herself silently as she saw the dead bodies before her.

To say this girl had one heck of a morning would be an advanced understatement to anyone but her. Since this morning, she was awoken as some group of children's prisoner, forced to run through halls while avoiding and fighting several crazed Monokumas, was forced to partake in some strange game these children created called Demon Hunting, met the possible mastermind behind everything that happened to her and everyone in this city, and finally came across her supposed rescuer who nearly tried to kill her five minutes later.

It could only be an assumed rescuer because, under normal circumstances, no one would send this dangerous girl to rescue someone as helpless as her. Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier. One of the members of the Future Foundation, at least according to what Ikusaba said, was now a partner in helping Komaru possibly escape from this city. Even now Komaru had yet to understand who thought it was a good idea to send a crazed maniac like her to help the sister of the Ultimate Hope, and that was provided she was telling the truth at all. For all she knew she could still be working for her own sister, Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair!

See, there were several problems troubling both girls, only one or two of which the other were fully aware of. For Komaru, it was being able to trust this girl at all. According to the Future Foundation when they came to rescue her two days ago via helicopter, not only was Ikusaba Junko's sister, but she was also responsible for the kidnapping of her sister several months prior from the Future Foundation, and possibly helping her own sister with the Demon Hunt she was being forced to play. Unfortunately for Komaru, that was the lighter half of the bad news.

The worse part out of this was Ikusaba's strange, as she could only call it for the time, "shift in character". It wasn't like a split personality or anything, she was still fully aware of her actions and everything she was doing. But for some strange reason, according to Ikusaba, whenever she was surrounded by a large amount of stress or sadness, not knowing the truth of the substance was from Despair itself, she had a tendency to suddenly lash out or go crazy. While she had yet to experience anything since the first time, which was ten minutes ago, she still couldn't let her guard down around her.

For whatever reason, this strange character shift she had was an entirely different person than her in almost every manner. She became creepy, vile, and most importantly dangerous. Not two seconds after saving Komaru the second time over she immediately went on to trying to strangle her to death. If it wasn't for the strange device on Ikusaba's chest that kept her in line, Komaru would probably be dead right now.

And it's said device that caused a whole 'nother issue in itself. See, it was designed to stop Ikusaba if she went too far off the deep end and she tried to kill Komaru. Simple right? Well that was also the problem behind it. Apparently it had two stages to reach before it was sure to stop Ikusaba for good. The first stage was a semi-loud beeping sound that would keep hopefully catch Ikusaba's attention and snap her out of whatever lustful trance she found herself in.

But if it got worse, the second stage would assure she couldn't harm anyone after a minute. And what better way could there be than releasing an electrical shock with enough lethality and force strong enough to kill a horse? Or at least some degree of whatever the Ultimate Soldier was comprised of. Thankfully the shocks it releases were only as strong as however far gone Ikusaba was in her emotional shift, so the more she was out of it the stronger the shock. At the same time, it naturally meant if she was reeling herself out of it, then it would only release a simple shock, if anything at all after a full minute.

Out of all of this though, none of these were Ikusaba's concern. Her concern was Komaru herself. She had no care for the girl, no respect or concern about any sort of fate that would befall Komaru herself. Her one and only concern was for her beloved Naegi.

Unfortunately, this required her making sure Komaru followed through on whatever it was that was asked of her from the game. She needed to make sure no matter what, Komaru never died in this game or got sidetracked throughout all of this. Of course, if she could find a way for Komaru to get out of this game, then that was probably for the best too. After all, she was just forced to keep her alive and through the game, but there wasn't anything outside of her deal that said she needed to finish it.

On top of that, she also needed to figure out what else Komaru knew about her. She needed her to trust her whether Ikusaba liked it or not, and the sooner she revealed what she knew the sooner she wouldn't feel too suspicious around her and be able to help her better. At the very least she wouldn't need to worry about checking her back every couple seconds in case Komaru became concerned over something.

So for Komaru, her priority was finding a way out of this city, and possibly finding Naegi at the same time. And for Ikusaba, that meant putting up with someone she could only consider a whiney little bitch until this was all over while being as patient and kind as possible with her.

That didn't help with anything they came across though, like the first two dead bodies they found after coming from the rooftops.

"A-Are they really...?" Komaru hesitated to ask, already knowing the answer.

"You don't really need an answer, do you?" Ikusaba muttered, tapping the corpse slightly with her foot.

"D-Don't kick at it like that!" Komaru yelped pulling back Ikusaba's arm out of instinct. It only registered to her after several seconds what she did, the look Ikusaba gave her being the only message she needed. "S-Sorry..."

"I'm going to put this as delicately as possible, but don't suddenly grab me out of nowhere like that." It wasn't exactly in a threatening tone, but firm enough for Komaru to get the point. "I've been on the battlefield plenty of times, and usually people who end up grabbing me out of nowhere end up with their neck snapped."

"M-Message received..." Koamru gulped.

"Anyway, you shouldn't let bodies like these get to you." Ikusaba stated as they explored the halls. "You're going to be coming across a lot of those over the city."

"I-Is it really that bad?" Komaru asked worriedly. "I-I mean I know the Monokumas have been around a lot, b-but..."

"The Monokumas are the least of your worries." Ikusaba paused as she looked at the shutters before her. "What the hell...?"

"What?"

"These shutters weren't here a minute ago. How do you think I got up here?" Ikusaba pointed out. Komaru looked at the shutters curiously, scratching her chin.

"You didn't?" She glanced over at the wall as she noticed the nearby switch. "Why not try the switch?"

"Forget the switch, I got this." Ikusaba said with a smug grin, cracking her knuckles before sliding her fingers through the openings of the gate. "Hnnnnngh!" Ikusaba grumbled to herself as she pulled on the shutters with all her might.

Komaru was very curious as to how strong the Ultimate Soldier before her was. She was strong enough to take down dozens of Monokumas in front of her, even drop kicking one of the lunging Monokumas right under her heel! It was at this moment before her that she would get to see just how strong the soldier was, how much her strength could really push her!

"Nnnghhhh..."

"..."

"Egghhh..."

"..."

"Huff!" Ikusaba let out a gasp of breath as she released the gate. All that buildup she had going for herself was met with nothing more than the shaking of the gate. She hadn't moved it an inch off the ground despite her best efforts, and the silence filling the room was enough to tell Komaru how hard she was taking this. Glancing back to the girl herself, Komaru looked away quickly as Ikusaba gave her a blushing, twitchy, look of irritation. "Not a single word..."

"Eh I-I wouldn't dream of it..." It took a bit of Komaru's willpower to keep herself from chuckling at the scene. "Anyway, what do we do now?"

"Try chanting some mystical spell, I'm sure the doors password protected by magic."

"Really!?" It took several seconds of silence before Komaru realized she was just joking.

"You really are the younger sister, aren't you?" Ikusaba commented as she looked around the corner of the hall.

"W-What's that supposed to mean!?" Komaru asked following along.

"Never mind, just... Ah, in here." Ikusaba lead Koamru over to the door at the end of the hallway. "There's a generator in here."

"Really?" It was a bit surprising to think the generator they required was on the same floor of the locked shutters.

The room itself was pretty much what you'd expect from a Hospital Building. It wasn't much to look at either since the generators were the only thing that filled over half the room. There were numerous electrical appliances adorning the walls of the room with multiple wires protruding from them to the generators themselves, some of them stretching into the walls and ceilings that most likely spread to the rest of the Hospital room.

"Up there." Ikusaba pointed to the strange looking electrical switch near the ceiling. "Try using the Move function on it or something."

"Umm... Ok..." Komaru replied, doing as instructed with little wonder. Sure enough, after firing a green radio wave of energy, the generator hummed as it came to life. As if to prove it the lights above the room slowly blinked as they started coming to life, filling not just the room but the rest of the hospital with light. "Hey, it worked!"

"Told ya, now let's go." Ikusaba didn't waste a second to leave the room as quickly as they came in.

"H-Hey wait!" Komaru yelped running after her. "How did you know the gun could do that?"

"Hell-o? I'm with the Future Foundation?" Ikusaba reminded. "I saw them testing the thing on numerous electrical appliances. Some of them worked, some of them didn't."

"Oh... right..." Ikusaba noticed Komaru's sudden silence at this.

She didn't know what Komaru knew, and Komaru herself wanted to keep it that way until she could think of what to say. She knew Ikusaba was a traitor and she knew she couldn't trust her completely, even though she did save her life. She also knew she couldn't keep her concerns bottled up the entire time but she needed to know the right time to actually ask her about her past.

All the same, Ikusaba wanted to know what was actually going on with her. She knew something she wasn't telling Ikusaba, and that made things more concerning for the soldier. If she didn't know what Komaru knew about her, there would be no end to the unease she felt around her. On top of that, there may have been the chance she knew about the deal she had with the Servant, and that made her an obstacle in the long run of things. She wasn't going to let Naegi's sister come between her and herself, so if Komaru became a threat to that, she would make sure to deal with it.

 ***Squish***

 ***Squish***

 ***Squish***

"Huh?" Both girls' attention was caught by the strange squishing sound they heard from the hall they were at earlier, the one with the shutter and dead bodies.

 ***click***

 ***flash***

"H-Hey!" Komaru yelled a little excited. Neither of them knew what was causing the strange and brief flash of light, but if there was a light there was a chance it was someone else who was still alive. She wasted no time running down the hallway, hopeful to find anyone else that was still alive.

"K-Komaru wait!" Ikusaba's nerves grew uneasy at the sight of the strange flash. She wasn't expecting anything, she wasn't warned by the Servant before they disconnected, and she had no idea what to expect from this point onward. On top of that, all her experiences on the battlefield gave her a sort of sixth sense. Not so much in the whole ghost or psychic link sorta way, but when something bad was coming up, her nerves were the first thing to jitter about.

At least they did before and after the Mutual Killing Game.

Komaru continued to pay no attention to the girl pleading for her to stop. This was her chance to find someone else who was still alive, someone who was both normal and stuck in this game like her. She didn't mind Ikusaba's help of course. As matter of fact, she preferred her help out of anyone considering this was someone who was a full-fledged soldier, even if she couldn't be the one to lead them all through the city. But even then the more company they had the better, and the more people working together improved their chances of getting out of here alive!

Unfortunately, fate was not so lucky.

 _The air grew thick with tension as Komaru came upon the scene before her, finding the fellow survivors in the city. They were nothing like what she expected, however. For one thing, there wasn't just one but two of them, which was better than finding a single person altogether. At least it would be if she wasn't greeted with the sight before her. She could've gone without seeing this, or better yet gone without finding these two survivors, because the minute her eyes laid upon them she almost wished she was the only survivor left._

 _There were two of them, one slightly shorter than Komaru and the other one a little bit taller than Komaru. The first one with blond hair and a single ponytail hairstyle, was dressed in a fashionable purple kimono with white floral designs patterned across the outfit. Within both her hands were elegantly decorated fans which opened and close in synch with her dance steps. And while she couldn't see them due to the kimono dropping down to a mere inch off the ground, she could hear the clacking footsteps in step one after the other in rhythmic harmony, pounding along each step in sequence._

 _Yet her appearance wasn't the disturbing part about her that truly terrified Komaru. It was the dead bodies below her feet, the very same Komaru and Ikusaba came across earlier, that she was dancing on. Each trample reduced their body to more of a bloody paste with each passing step as she made sure to reach each and every remaining part of the first corpse's body._

 _Perhaps that would explain the small gleam of fresh blood that swayed across the bottom of her Kimono._

 _And yet she continued to dance, humming to herself in fashion as if she never had a care in the world._

 _As for the other person, they had a more common appearance for someone in this day an age, looking like a typical high school girl like Komaru would be if the world didn't come to an end years ago. She had a simple white short-sleeved shirt with a simple pocket on the left chest of it and a lacy brown necktie around the collar. She wore a typical short light brown skirt with similar-looking long dark blue socks, but with black shoes instead of white ones like Komaru wore._

 _In terms of the girl's face, it appeared to be normal too, with a common haircut that kept her long hair out of her eyes while the outer edges of it drooped down surrounding her neck. Unlike the last girl, instead of the same common happy expression on her face, her expression was completely neutral wit a few freckles bridging across her nose. But her eyes were the true attention grabber for Komaru._

 _They were soulless, empty. It was like she was nothing more than a mere puppet with that hollowed outlook under her eyes, not seeming to care about anything she was doing at the time._

 _Like taking the pictures with her professional camera with a flash attachment on it, the very same that drew Komaru and Ikusaba to them._

 _Thus, Ikusaba and Komaru could only be comparable to moths to a flame. Simple creatures attracted to a simple pure light, not realizing how deadly the flames truly were._

"Squish, squish, squish!" The blond shorter girl chirped as she continued to dance upon the dead.

 ***click***

Komaru had to shield her eyes briefly from the immense light suddenly created by the camera.

"Ugh..." The red-haired girl moaned with sadness. "What's the point of taking these pictures Saionji? They're just going to rot away with the rest of the world." She looked over her camera without losing that soulless expression on her face. "Everything just rots... you'll rot, I'll rot, they'll rot... It's just pointless."

"You need to learn to lighten up, Mahiru!" Saionji replied, twirling in place. "You need to live in the moment like I am! All the time, 24/7, without end! Cause the minute I stop is when the rest of the world hates me. So you can never ever ever stop, even if your own feet bleed!"

"They're just bleeding cause you wouldn't stop dancing after getting her feet stitched on..." Mahiru mumbled.

"A-Ah-Aaah-Ah..." Komaru was too disturbed for words. She only met these people for literal seconds, both completely unaware up till now of her presence, and yet they were already more terrifying than Ikusaba when they first met. The way they acted without any care for the dead bodies the blond one was stepping on, desecrating and taking pictures of their handiwork. It was completely unthinkable, unspeakable. They had to have come straight from an asylum for all Komaru knew.

"Huh?" Saionji suddenly paused misstep as she heard Komaru's gasp. The minute she did though she looked back to her feet. A complexity of rage and anguish filled her face as she squeezed her head, eyes tearing up from frustration as her teeth gritted. "N-No no nooooooo!" She yelled to herself shaking her head back and forth in tantrum. "I stopped, you made me stop! You ruined my 113 straight hours of dancing you conceited trashy pig shit!"

"T-Trashy pig shit?" Komaru repeated as her eyes began to water. She wasn't about to cry from the insulting words the shorter girl used, it was from the terror emanating from them together. It was just like the rest of them, Ikusaba, Junko. They were giving off the same aura of death those two did when she first met. It was gnawing away at each passing seconds as Komaru trembled in fear.

"Komaru!" Ikusaba yelled finally catching up, panting a it as she caught her breath. "You shouldn't run away from me y-!" All life and color drained from Ikusaba's face as her eyes were met upon by Mahiru's and Saionji's. Unlike hers, the color from their faces only seemed to brighten slightly with their grins. "N-No... No way..."

"Well well well," Saionji spoke swaying her hips from side to side, "look who we have here. If it isn't Junko's backstabbing bitch from the whore house..."

"W-Wh-What..." Komaru was actually amazed looking back at Ikusaba. Her entire expression was almost similar to her own, body shaking from fear, eyes full of sorrow and terror. It was almost like looking into a mirror itself. "W-What are you... Why are you guys even here!?" She stammered.

"We could be asking you that, you know." Mahiru retorted as she tilted her head. "Here I thought you'd have the sense to be groveling at your Junko's feet, begging for forgiveness."

"Tch," the fear was quickly replaced with anger despite the frustration she still maintained, "I don't know who that is, but that isn't Junko!"

"Oh, we know." Saionji poked her own cheeks as she grinned. "We know perfectly well who it is, don't we Mahiru?"

"Just like we know what she did to Naegi." Mahiru added in.

"Mmmmmmmh!"

 ***WHAP***

Komaru nearly flinched at the red-handed mark left on Mahiru's left cheek by Saionji's slap.

"You can't give out too many spoilers you stupid red-head!" She grumbled. "Next you'll end up telling them about the bomb!"

"Bomb!?" Komaru repeated. "What bomb?"

"Gah, now look what you made me do!" Saionji growled slapping Mahiru's face again. All the same the red-head didn't seem to care. She just had that plain solemn look on her face as always, even as the red mark darkened after the second hit.

"It's not like it'll matter Saionji, it's gonna be pointless soon." Mahiru muttered. Saionji continued to puff her cheeks for a few more seconds before sighing.

"I guess you're right. After all, I still need to punish the trashy pig shit for ruining my dancing!" She grinned.

"D-Dancing?" It disgusted Komaru to no end. There was no way she could accept what she was doing as simple dancing, seeing the trembled remains of one of the dead bodies under her feet. It was almost enough to make her throw up if the two didn't horrify her as they did. "W-What part of that disgusting display was dancing!? Those were human people dancing on, once living breathing people like you and me! What you did was horrible!"

"... Horrible? You... You call my dancing... horrible?" It was too late for regrets. All color instantly drained from Saionji's face as her arms dropped to her side. What started up as a mere buildup slowly became a massive volcano as Saionji's face was flushed with rage and tears. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed a deafening cry which shook the very building itself. Ikusaba and Komaru were forced to cover their ears tightly at the massive vibrating cry she let out. Only Mahiru refrained from doing so despite the pain it had to be causing her. Her left ear began bleeding and yet she didn't so much at wince at the shattered eardrum. "Forget these stupid bitch-assed no good dirty rotten pig shitting prostituting whore monkeys!" She screamed as she teared all at once. "Forget all of this! Let's just kill them already Mahiru!" She whined in an almost begging tone.

"Whatever..." Mahiru mumbled, still hearing just fine from her right ear. It was only as she lifted the camera facing the other two did Komaru noticed the bandages on her right hand. They traveled up from her elbow to her wrist, a little bit of it covering the palms of her hand. But upon seeing the tips of it, she realized, as strange as it was, that those weren't her fingertips. For one, as opposed to her other fingers, these were stitched at the knuckle of each finger, each one marked with cuts and scratches all around them. In addition, unlike her other hand, the fingers on her right were longer with pink nail polish, albeit crusty and worn out. These weren't her own fingertips.

They were someone else's completely.

"Say cheese."

*click*

*FLASH*

"Ahhhh!" Komaru and Ikusaba cried out in pain as their eyes were overcome with a horribly blinding light. The entire room shined with a never-ending brightness as everything before them was enveloped.

*Bwak*

"Ahh!" Komaru heard Ikusaba suddenly yelp in pain, followed by the sound of something slamming into a wall.

"Ikusaba?" Komaru called out trying to open her stinging eyes. The ongoing brightness continued to envelope them completely for several more seconds, not once giving the two girls a chance of peace or loneness. It was only after about another twelve seconds that the brightness slowly dimmed from the room, Komaru's eyes weakly adjusting to the normalcy of the room once more. She couldn't understand how a camera could be as bright as that, nor understand a single thing that transpired before her. Those two knew who Ikusaba was from the looks of it, Ikusaba had her own fear of those two for some reason even she wasn't aware of, and after insisting they were going to kill the two, they disappeared as the light cleared from them.

By the time she could see clearly again, they were completely gone. No Saionji, no Mahiru, the only evidence of their existence beforehand were the still trampled on remains of the dead bodies the blond girl was dancing upon. It took all of Komaru's strength to keep from upchucking whatever pieces of food her stomach held, not wanting to look at the disgusting remains or horror of the blonde's idea of dancing. All she was concerned about now were the two who declared they were going to murder them, and Ikusaba who she suddenly saw thrown against a wall, having slid down along it to the floor. Despite not seeing any visible injuries, she could see Ikusaba wincing as she clutched her stomach in pain, clearly having been attacked by one of if not both the girls at once.

"Ikusaba!" Komaru cried worriedly rushing to her side. "Are you okay?" She asked helping her up.

"Geh, that fucking blonde has one hell of a kick." She muttered before grabbing Komaru's hand. "Let's go!"

"W-Wait!" Komaru wasn't given a single ounce of leeway as Ikusaba suddenly ran down the hall to the open shutters, not giving her a chance to recover for herself or explain what just happened. "Who were those girls?"

"I'll explain later!" Ikusaba quickly replied, checking the hallways past the now opened doorway. She didn't seem to focus on anything else than getting out of this place alive. Not even caring about the lone Monokuma that was searching the halls, casually looking left and right and yet not directly down the hallway itself. "There. Monokuma. Kill it!" She quickly instructed as she pulled Komaru in front of her.

"But..." Komaru was about to question things before she saw Ikusaba clutching her own chest.

She could see it on her expression, the trembling of her body, the grinding of her teeth, and the sweat pouring from her face. Whoever those girls were they were obviously from Ikusaba's past. Not only that, but for whatever reason, them being here alone was enough to cause stress and anxiety to the soldier who couldn't afford to stay within these situations for an indefinite amount of time. By the looks of it alone she was struggling with herself as she shifted her eyes side to side, glancing back and forth between the hallways and the numerous doors around them. She was close to snapping.

She wasn't afraid of them directly, she realized. It was the chest piece that Ikusaba showed her from earlier. Whoever they were, they were causing her stress to no end. She needed to escape from them as fast as possible, without worry over the Monokumas themselves or anything around her. The chest piece was the one thing she truly feared as a soldier at this time. And the longer Komaru waited contemplating this, the more Ikusaba was going to suffer as a result.

Sighing to herself, Komaru breathed deeply as she took aim of the Monokuma nearly twenty yards away. Fortunately, dealing with this one was much easier than the dozen that surrounded her earlier. The first shot missed it's glowing red eye but still got it's attention easily as it recoiled from the hit. With Komaru in it's sights, it began charging down with it's speeding feet, cackling in a mechanical voice as it charged her with it's paws raised. While it was on the move, it became harder to shoot directly due to the unsteady hands Komaru hand. She knew those things would tear her apart, and it was that constant fear that always put her on edge in this situation.

Still, given the distance, Komaru managed to keep calm as she fired another several blasts, using up to about six more shots before the beast whirred and swayed. For a moment, she was content with herself having taken down another Monokuma. With each one taken down, that took away another ounce of fear that was filling her heart. Over time, she knew she was going to get used to these things and the sooner the better. She wouldn't have to fear the Monokumas as much, and that meant getting out of the city easier.

Unfortunately, nothing was ever easy in this world.

The moment the machine exploded, the time it took for it's smoldering cloud of cinder to evaporate, there she stood. Mahiru, the red head with a camera, with a cheap plastic smile on her face and eyes filled with Despair. Before Komaru could register what she was doing, and by the time Ikusaba looked ahead again, it was already too late.

 ***click***

 ***FLASH***

 ***Bwak***

"Ahhh!" This time Komaru yelped in pain following the blinding light. The next thing she knew her face was collided with the harsh footing of a wooden sandal, swiping across her chin as it literally kicked her off her feet and onto the ground behind her. "Ow..." She cried sheepishly as she teared up, rubbing her chin. On the bright side of things, no pun intended, the blindness of this flash wasn't as powerful as the one before it. It only took several seconds between the time the flash started to the time the light receded for something to attack Komaru and make it's escape before anything could be seen again.

"Komaru!" Ikusaba quickly sped to her side before kneeling down. "You alright?"

"Mmh," Komaru whined briefly as she rubbed her chin, "that seriously hurt..." She commented getting back to her feet.

"Hehehe." Saionji's laughter echoed throughout the halls in a ghastly tone. "This is one of the more fun dances I like to do. It's especially effective against stupid demons who don't know how to look away from the light like fucking blind rats."

"Ghh..." Ikusaba hated this. She couldn't afford to fight in this condensed space and watch Komaru's back at the same time. She needed to find someplace safe for the two, or at least where they could hold out to get their bearings. "C'mon, in here." Ikusaba quickly instructed running to the doorway at the end of the hallway. The hallway still went around the corner, but for some strange reason the floor between the two ends of the hallway had collapsed. Whether from the Warriors of Hope themselves or the Monokumas, something destroyed the flooring and the edges were too rough to grab onto if Komaru or Ikusaba tried to jump.

Making it the perfect trap as Ikusaba opened the door.

 ***clich***

 ***FLASH***

"Fucking-!" Ikusaba growled as she covered her eyes once more. Luckily for Komaru, this time she was better protected from the blinding light as she stood several yards away from the door Ikusaba lead her towards. The light itself was definitely from the room Ikusaba tried to access as the doorway blocked off the Light's glare from Komaru's vision. It was also thanks to this that she could see how the two mysterious girls worked in tandem. Immediately after shielding her eyes, her gut was assaulted by the hard wooden clops of Saionji's sandals, leaping straight through the doorway as she attacked the unaware soldier. Komaru hastily ran to her side grabbing her left hand before Ikusaba leaned anymore backwards, nearly falling into the dark pit that separated the flooring.

Following this, Saionji gracefully leaped across the gap with ease as Mahiru made her way out the other door, proving the room was connected to the door on this side.

"Grrrr I hate that fucking blonde!" Ikusaba shouted again as she rubbed her eyes. Checking the room itself carefully from the doorway, Komaru nervously lead Ikusaba into the awaiting room, hoping nothing would pop out at them during this brief moment of rest.

"C-Come on, we should be safe in here." Komaru suggested as she pulled her in. As the soldier rubbed her eyes clear Komaru quickly locked the door they just entered from. Least now they wouldn't have to worry about Saionji attacking from behind as they rested for a bit. That made up the good part of the news. The bad part of the news was what awaited them. "Ah-!"

Within the middle of the room, standing casually with that same Monokuma smile, was a young girl. The young girl was eerily similar to the one from the Park, the same one Komaru met before they were suddenly attacked before Komaru could escape. They just stood their as if nothing had happened between them at any given point, swaying side to side with their hands behind their back. Even the casual dress gave no indication to how dangerous the girl was, her expression shrouded behind the mysterious helmet they wore. Strangely, which was saying a lot after all the weird things Komaru had witnessed since she broke out of her apartment, she was a small white package with a green ribbon wrapped around it. It was identical to the one Komaru saw in the room the Servant awoke her in, standing a few feet from the child just screaming for her to open it. It was by this time Ikusaba's eyesight finally returned to normal, heart skipping a beat briefly when she thought she saw another Monokuma before them.

"I-It's the girl form the park!" Komaru screeched. Taking a step forward, Ikusaba eyed the girl curiously.

"Nah, doubtful." She stated in a casual tone.

"Huh? What makes you say that?" Komaru asked wondering.

"I've come across a couple of these kids while exploring the city." Ikusaba explained. "They all seem to be wearing that stupid looking helmet and school uniforms, so this girl could be anyone."

"Anyone...?" Komaru's attention shifted from the girl to the package near her feet. "What about the present?"

"Why not open it and find out?" Ikusaba suggested.

Komaru gulped to herself as she looked back nervously. "A-Are you sure? What if... What if it's a bomb or something?"

"If they wanted to bomb us, they wouldn't be in the same room as us, would they?" The soldier commented looking back to the strange helmet-wearing girl. "They wouldn't kill the adults in that way."

"Oh... right..." Still with a sense of unease, Komaru carefully unwrapped the package as she examined it's contents. To her surprise, and minor delight, it was ammunition! At least enough of those ammo chips to restore another fifteen bullets to her gun, bringing her nearly to the full amount she had earlier when dropped down to the rooftops. "It's more ammo!" She announced taking it out. "It's just enough to..." It slowly dawned on her war Ikusaba had truly said before she opened the package. "W-Wait... What did you mean by kill the adults in that way?"

Ikusaba crossed her arms as she turned away. "Isn't it obvious? These kids and those Monokumas are all working together to kill all the adults."

"K-Kill the..." Even after meeting the Warriors of Hope she had refused to believe it. She wanted to believe with every fiber of her being that Ikusaba was lying, or meant in some strange mannerism of a game. But she knew this was just her refusal to believe all around her. Looking back to the young girl before her, the small child simply giggled after Komaru emptied the package's contents before running out of the room. "T-They're... R-Really killing the adults?"

"To be fair, I don't know if it's directly or not, but all I do know is that they're using the Monokumas to help them." Ikusaba clarified. It didn't bring any more comfort to Komaru's heart. Just the fact these kids were all trying to team up to kill all the adults or anyone considered a demon horrified her. There was no sense of peace or decency in anything they were doing. It was simply horrifying.

"T-That's... That's terrifying..." Komaru's eyes watered a bit as she stood up again. "How can kids just go around and do things like that!?"

"... I don't know... " It was weird hearing a calmness coming from Ikusaba like that. She almost seemed regrettable as she spoke of the children who had killed their own parents, hinting a deeper knowledge of these killings than she was letting on. "Either way, we need to figure out to get out of here," Ikusaba continued as she neared the other door, "we can't keep running down the halls with those two asses dropping on us at every turn."

"W-Who... Do you know who they are?" Komaru wondered.

"Do you wanna keep talking about it, or do you wanna get out of here?" Ikusaba retorted. It was obvious to Komaru that she was dodging the question, but to be honest she was right at the same time. There was just no way they could wait out everything and hope their assailants would leave. Either the girls would just drop in on them again, or the Monokumas could rush them by filling the room, ripping them to shreds in seconds. "We need to think of a plan..."

"M-Maybe... I could use my Hacking Gun on their camera?" Komaru suggested. "I mean it might work, right?"

"I'm not willing to risk it with those two running around." Ikusaba shot down "Even if you could get a shot at it, there's no guarantee it would work. That thing launches Radio Waves in the form of energy, that's why it works on the Monokumas so easily. But even if it worked on that Camera, which is doubtful, there's no way it or you would be fast enough to hit it before she covers it again."

"R...Right..." Komaru frowned to herself. She wanted to do anything she could to help the Ultimate Soldier, but what could she do? She had a hard enough time trying to aim at the Monokumas, these two were mere psychopaths before her. And on the unlikely chance they did destroy the camera with the Hacking Gun, they still had to deal with Saionji, the dancer with a powerful kick. "Well... we can't let the flash get to us..."

"And we need to avoid Saionji and the Monokumas while we're at it." Ikusaba added. "They keep coming at us when our guard is down or the Monokumas are destroyed. So that's our only opportunity to get Mahiru and her stupid flashing camera."

There was a moment of silence between the two girls as they went into thought. They both wanted to find the solution out of this predicament, and they needed to do so while fighting off or avoiding the Monokumas. So what was the solution?

"..."

"..."

"...Huh!" Komaru let out a gasp as a spark of ingenuity struck her.

"What? You got something?" Ikusaba asked slightly curious.

"I got it! We're in a hospital office, right?" Komaru sounded rather enthusiastic as she began sorting through the drawers in the room. It was a long shot but maybe they had just the thing she needed.

"Yeaaaah...?"

"Then... maybe... Ah!" Komaru smiled with relief as she pulled something out. "Maybe this would work?" Ikusaba was rather impressed with Komaru's creativity, actually grinning with sincerity for once since they met. This was along the lines of being a long shot, but it was definitely one worth going through.

Especially since their options was limited.

...

...

 ***creeeeeak***

Ikusaba popped her head carefully out of the room as she examined the hallways. She wouldn't admit this even to herself but she was definitely nervous. They needed to make it to the end of the hallway where the entrance was located, and between them and there was definitely the two remnants of despair, even if she couldn't see it. There was a lot more riding on this than their lives, at least to Ikusaba herself. Every obstacle they came across would be a blockade between her eventful reunion with herself and her Naegi, and despite her personal rule from the Future Foundation, she needed to get through this without taking lives or building up her stress. Even now it was at the halfway point of being critical which meant the odds were already against her. At least if their plan did work, they could hopefully escape from the hospital in time and from these two especially.

"You ready?" Ikusaba asked looking behind her.

"You're the one who has it, so you tell me?" Komaru reminded. With a silent nod back to her, Ikusaba began to sweat as she began walking outside the room. The eerie silence of the halls were unsettling with each step they took. If the plan worked the way they expected, much less needed for them to pull it off, then any moment now there should be...

"Upupupu!" The cackling laughter of the mechanical bears filled the halls as the door at the end of the hall burst open. As expected another Monokuma came running out the doors with excitement as it charged down the halls, arms flailing about as it prepared for murder.

"There's another Monokuma, Komaru!" Ikusaba quickly stated, quite audibly compared to usual.

"I got it!" Komaru announced as she stepped ahead of Ikusaba. Despite the fear rising again she managed to stand her ground as she took aim of the killer bear once again. To her surprise, after firing normal the first time around, she managed to get a lucky hit on the bear's red eye, destroying it within two shots. Like before, two things happened. One, Komaru's displayed ammo within the Hud was glowing again, indicating her shot was charged up once more. And two, like last time, Mahiru suddenly appeared when the smoldering ash began to dissipate, camera on the ready like before.

"You two never learn, do you..." She mumbled as she prepared to flash them once more.

"Now!" Komaru yelped as she ducked covering her eyes.

 ***click***

 ***FLASH***

"Ahhhh!" Mahiru suddenly cried out in pain as she dropped the camera, covering her eyes.

She hadn't expected it which worked to Ikusaba's and Koamru's advantage. Immediately before Mahiru could flash the camera, Komaru ducked as Ikusaba stood right behind her. That single second of time between Mahiru flashing the camera and Komaru ducking out of the view was all they needed as Iksusaba revealed a small hand mirror within her hands. With her own eyes closed, Ikusaba waited for her eyelids themselves to flash briefly to show the dazing light they were assaulted with before opening them following Mahiru's screech. Normally, such a small personal mirror wouldn't have affected the camera girl before them. At most it would've just been a minor flash that would've irritated her under normal circumstances.

But Mahiru wasn't a normal camera girl. When she took her pictures, even if it was more nothing more than a simple means to attack with, she did it like any true professional. With her camera's vision zoomed in so Komaru's head was fitted within the camera's sights, it was the perfect size to capture nearly the entire mirror that replaced her view. Thanks to it, she was unprepared for the blinding flash that was returned to her, blinding her right eye and startling her enough to drop the camera as she screamed.

Perhaps it wasn't enough to completely blind her, seeing how her other eyes was closed as she took the shot. But the dual vision she was now stuck with, the eye seeing clearly and the one filled with a white haze were fighting against her brain, filling her head with a painful migraine as the view before her suddenly tilted back and forth endlessly. Her body wavered back and forth as she struggled to maintain any sense of balance. Even her hands moving right before her eyes were nothing short of a slow wave of moment, blurring back and forth before her as she squinted her eyes.

Thus the trap for the next assailant as one of the nearby doors burst open. Thanks to the expected flash, Ikusaba made sure to keep her eyes shut as Mahiru blinded herself in her place. Because she didn't have to focus on the blinding sight, all her senses were focused on her surroundings, including her ears which caught her attention of the door to the right of Komaru. Like she had done several times beforehand, Saionji suddenly sped through the doorway preparing to strike Komaru like before. To her surprise, however, not only did she catch Komaru's attention, who seemed to be looking at her just fine, her face was greeted with the heel of Ikusaba's boots, striking her square in the nose and sending her flying back into the room she came from.

"Aghhghhghh!" Saionji squealed in pain as she clutched her bleeding nose. Komaru had to give compliments to Ikusaba's speed. She wasn't ready to react to someone coming at her so fast out of nowhere, especially when there were several areas she could've leapt from. Yet, within the two seconds she had to herself, not only did Ikusaba manage to see where Saionji was attacking from, she managed to counter fast enough before she could strike Komaru herself. "You nashty shit brained shkank headed bimbosh!" Saionji lisped slightly as she cried. It was moments like these Komaru was glad Ikusaba was on her side when she watched Saionji squirming on the ground while clutching a profusely-bleeding nose.

"That was close..." Komaru sighed wiping her brow.

"Come on!" Ikusaba yelled pulling her again. She really didn't want to waste any time around here, pulling Komaru out of her tiny trance as they ran down the halls once more passed Mahiru. "The entrance is right around- oh fuck..." Komaru suddenly looked ahead to see what all the fuss was about, face filling with an all too familiar fear.

If it was one Monokuma, that would've been something. If it were two or three Monokumas, that would've been just as well. The entrance was large enough to fit literal hundreds of people in if they were all standing about all gathered in a single crowd. But before them wasn't just one, or two, but a near dozen Monokumas, all of whom began shifting their attention to Komaru and Ikusaba one by one. Several of them were chuckling, others sharpening their claws together. One by one, it registered to each of them that Komaru and Ikusaba were boxed in, a factor only Komaru realized as she turned her head back.

They weren't anymore ready than they were before, but Saionji was angrily marching her way slowly over to Mahiru while clutching her bleeding nose with her left hand. Mahiru herself was slowly getting back to her feet as well, still rubbing the small bits of dizziness out of her eyes. All that mattered though was how much they neared over to them. There was no possible way Ikusaba or Komaru could handle both the Monokumas and the two remnants at the same time, and whichever the two did focus on, the other side would attack.

"W-What do we do?" Komaru asked worriedly. She did her best to aim her gun at the Monokumas, but even then her hands trembled in fear. Even if she didn't focus her mind her body remembered the fear it felt the last time she was surrounded by the Monokumas, how close their claws came to her flesh. There was no getting passed that feeling so soon.

"..."

"I-Ikusaba?" She began to grow more worried from Ikusaba's silence than their predicament. If the Monokumas weren't going to harm them or the remnants, then Ikusaba definitely would threaten them if her emotions ran rampant once again.

"Close your eyes!" She quickly shouted, helping shield Komaru's eyes with her sleeve.

 ***click***

 ***FLASH***

"Ah-!" It was the sight of the flash that startled Komaru more than the flash itself. She barely caught so much as a glimpse of it before seeing the familiar camera clutched in Ikusaba's hands. With a held breath, she raised it high before setting off the flash, filling the room with the familiar brightness once again. Having looked away from the flash herself, Komaru was the quickest to recover from the exposure as she saw the sight ahead.

To her shock, all the Monokumas were suddenly swaying about as if they were in a trance. Not one of them moved forward anymore than the one next to them as they just swayed side to side, stuck in a state of disorientation as they tried to get their bearings. At the same time, Mahiru and Saionji were both covering their eyes once more, getting their teeth as they dared not to look. Too many flashes of this camera would blind just about anybody, and with two girls constantly taking pictures of the camera, it was only natural the two were more sensitive to it than the rest.

"H-Hey, you-!" Komaru began to speak before seeing Ikusaba.

"Ghhhh..." Unfortunately for the soldier, she had to look at the flash. She needed to ensure she clicked the right thing and had it set properly before the blast went off, to make sure every Monokuma caught sight of it. Because of that, she fell victim to the disorientation along the rest, rubbing her eyes hastily as she looked to Komaru with closed eyes. "G-Get us out of here," she instructed, "the flash won't keep them disoriented for long!"

She was terrified. She was desperate. But most importantly, she didn't have a choice. No matter how scared she was, she had to pull Ikusaba's hand through the crowd of Monokumas. Her heart raced with each Monokuma she neared, slowly maneuvering around them so she didn't touch a single one. It didn't matter if they were temporarily blinded, any contact between them would result in any one of them grabbing one of them. But she was more than terrified at the idea of any one of them possibly snapping out of it and suddenly attacking them once more.

Thankfully, the distance between where they stood and the doorway wasn't that far, only about thirty yards in-between. After a few careful pulls between the bears, Komaru let out a breath of relief, quickly jutting over to the doorway with Ikusaba still in hand. To even more of their luck, the doors were fortunately not locked from the outside. The one thing that would've made this entire situation terrible was just to find out the doorway was locked, because no sooner did they open it did the familiar cackle of the Monokumas catch Komaru's attention. Looking back, she let out a small yelp before running through the doors again, seeing several Monokumas running after them once more with a bloodthirsty look upon their angry faces.

"Come on!" She yelled running through the doors. By the time they reached the middle of the streets did Ikusaba suddenly pause, to Komaru's confusion. "Why are you stopping..." Her question was answered as soon as she asked it, looking back to the doors like Ikusaba.

For whatever reason, they just stood there. Every Monokuma that was ready to tear their beating hearts out just stood by the closed glass doors, not budging an inch despite how easy it would be to simply chase them. Was it their robotic instincts or something? There was a good distance between the two and the bears, even though Komaru still needed to work on her aiming to ensure an actual kill shot. On top of that, since they were on the outside and in the open, Ikusaba's emotions should've become a little more stable, possibly enough to finally fight at Ikusaba's side.

But instead, the bears simply stood there. Passed them Komaru could make out two figures approaching the doors, Mahiru and Saionji on her left, approaching the doorway as two of the Monokumas cleared the way.

"It's just like before..." Komaru commented to herself.

She remembered it perfectly, just like the last time these Monokumas acted weird. Back when the rioting started and the bears flooded the city, she remembered the one chef of the restaurant, the one who screamed at the Monokumas to leave his diner posthaste. At first Komaru was terrified, thinking they were all about to attack her at once when she tripped over the floor. But despite her helpless position at that moment, the Monokumas simply ran on by, following their orders strictly to get out of the restaurant even if there was someone nearby.

"That's the remnants for you." Ikusaba finally spoke, never taking her gaze off the two. "They're all allies off Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Despair. Because of that those damn bears know the difference between them and any other person from a crowd. They know it, Junko knows it, and I'm sure the children wandering around know who they are too." At this point, Saionji simply gave Ikusaba the middle finger for a brief moment before her and Mahiru began walking away, the Monokumas following along with them.

"W-Why are they leaving like that?" Komaru asked confused. "D-Don't they have the advantage?"

"Doubtful." Ikusaba stated bluntly. "Whether they have higher authority than the kids or Monokumas, they still have to follow Junko's orders, which includes staying within certain areas. Junko is absolute, that is the only law any of them will follow." Komaru's heart wavered at the wording of that.

"Y-You said... them?" She asked with a sweating brow.

"You don't think those are the only two, do you?" Ikusaba responded crossing her arms. "Even I don't know how many there still are, provided they're even alive at this point. I just know a few of them."

That was a bit more to take in than Komaru had wished. According to her, not only was there Junko, the children, or the Monokumas to contend with, there was also these mysterious Remnants of Despair to deal with now, all of who were probably the most dangerous out of them all! They could command the Monokumas in any way they wanted, use them to their advantage along with any kids they came across. If wanted, they could probably command every Monokuma within earshot to charge headfirst to Komaru and Ikusaba, neither of who could hold off so many at once, especially depending on where they were at the time.

Still, they did at least survive their first encounter with them, and that was a good mark in Komaru's book.

"W-Well...h-hey, we won, right?" Komaru tried to cheer, raising her hand for a high five. Even with this bout of optimism, Ikusaba just continued to shoot her a look of irritation, not seeming phased by anything they had to deal with within the last ten minutes. There was something unnerving about the way she stared at her, even with all they've been through.

"What are you doing?" The soldier asked.

"It... It's a high five. We did it, right?" Komaru responded trying to sound hopeful.

"Did what?"

"D-Did what? We beat them, so good job!" She tried to encourage again.

"...Ugh..." Ikusaba groaned rubbing her eyes once more. Komaru couldn't tell if she was rubbing them out of irritation from the flash or the sudden optimism Komaru was trying to show off, probably the latter. At the same time it didn't make sense what exactly was bothering her. "Kid, I'm gonna remind you of one key detail in all this," Ikusaba stated as she pointed around, "we just escaped a single building with barely our lives and that camera. We still have an entire city to get through."

It was despair. Whenever Komaru began to feel hope, there was always despair that followed. Looking around, she could only feel the dread filling her mind as she realized the truth of the matter. Buildings were torn apart, people's bodies were thrown about the streets here and there, and blood covered most of the pavement. There was nothing to be optimistic about all this, nothing to celebrate. They had just gone through an entire building, barely escaped two psychopaths, and only got passed a dozen Monokumas thanks to Ikusaba's quick planning with the camera. If not for that, they would currently have their guts strung about the halls of the hospital, or stuck under the heels of Saionji's wooden shoes as she danced upon them.

With a mental sigh, Komaru frowned a bit as she lowered her head. They had a long way to go throughout this entire city, and there wasn't any way they were getting any easier. If anything, they just experienced the tutorial of a long winded game, barely a prologue. Not to mention numerous things Komaru had to ask Ikusaba about just from their time in the Hospital alone, like the child with the ammo for her and such.

Everything tom this point onward was going to get much, MUCH, worse.

...

...

"Oh come on!" Masaru grumbled as he stared at the screen.

Back with the Warriors of Hope, the warriors watched with dismay as the screen showed a view of Ikusaba and Komaru outside the Hospital, Komaru's head still hung lower as she walked along with Ikusaba once more. Class seemed to be over with for the day seeing how Junko herself was eating a bag of popcorn at the table, seated next to the ever-optimistic green haired girl herself, helping herself to a few bits of popcorn from time to time too.

From the moment the pictures were selected by Masaru to the end of the show before them, they watched with anticipation as the two battled their way through Junko's friends and the Monokumas, all the way up till they finally got out of the building alive and well, emotions unaccounted.

"They so totally should've gone after them!" He yelled pounding the wooden table before them.

"Uh-uh, can't do that." Junko replied as she gobbled down another handful of popcorn. "You have to make the levels fair for the newbies, which means only having enemies appear in certain places."

"As well as barring access to other places." Nagisa added as he sipped some of the warm apple juice from his teacup. "If it was as easy as chasing them anywhere, we'd send all Monokumas and robots after all the demons one at a time, Masaru. We can't just rush everything and expect it to be over in minutes. We'd be no better cheaters than they are if we did."

"Do you think the yellow hair girl has a floor mat to wipe her feet?" Jataro wondered drinking from a can of soda.

"I don't care," Masaru yelled back, "cheating demons should get no fairness at all! We should just hunt them down till there's none of them left!"

"But that's not how I want the game." Monaca spoke calmly. All tension he felt pent up instantly vanished as Masaru looked back to Monaca's innocent smile. "All games should be fair for all sides, and this wasn't any exception."

"Y-Yeah but..." Masaru was torn between arguing against Monaca and complaining about fairness.

"Besides," Kotoko spoke up catching his attention, "it's not like we're done with all our options just yet." At this, Masaru watched as she pulled out another picture from her pockets, another number written across it in a similar manner as the last two.

"W-Where'd you get that?"

"Pffft, you didn't think that one picture I gave you was all there was, did you?" Junko asked chuckling. "Oh my faithful, fearless, leader. Please try to understand this. Your Big Sis' has plenty of allies, and this game won't be over until all 15 of them are defeated..."

...

...

...

 _ **A/N: Annnnd HOOFTAH! Another chapter done, and had particular fun in this one with introducing the first/2nd of many-to-come remnants of despair. What'd you guys think of the action this time around :P? There was more action to put into this than otherwise. I feel like it came out pretty well. And like I said, while I'm not keeping this word for word, I am making sure I keep the scenery and style similar to that, even if I omit some things like the arcade machine before the Hospital Entrance. Some things will be added, others taken out. All that really matters is whether or not you guys enjoy it to me, so lemme know in the comments ^^**_

 _ **So with that said, hope you guys enjoyed! Leave a fav and follow if you enjoyed it, be sure to keep tuned in from hopefully a scheduled update, or just whenever whenever. Till next episode guys, take care :P! Going back to the same rule as last fanfic, 3 reviews before the next chapter- why am I so paranoid about reviews? Aside from liking feedback i get and the possible bottle of pills I found in my mom's medicine cabinet that have been giving me schizophrenic visions, I always consider reviews as a sign of popularity, and the more you have, the more people will be interested in what ya have to offer ^^**_

 _ **(Oh and to anyone who finds it weird that I used "BWAK" as a sound effect for Hiyoko/Saionji's kicks, don't look at me like that XP For some reason that's just the sound it apparently generates when used in a written format. I find it weird too but then again I'm just going by what the website says. When the site tells me to use "meow" for an explosion, THEN i'll start getting suspicious XP)**_


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